The failing Beau van Erven Dorens and Humberto Tan cost RTL 4 million euros, says TV authority Tina Nijkamp. “They could use a boost on that late evening from RTL 4.”
It was the biggest flop of the last TV season: RTL Tonight. Everyone saw within a week that it would never amount to anything, but channel boss Peter van der Vorst was stubborn and persevered. The damage is now enormous, so it is not very surprising that Peter has been promoted away by the new RTL owner DPG Media.
“What’s the damage?”
Tina Nijkamp, who was at the helm of SBS 6 for years, states that Beau van Erven Dorens and Humberto Tan have done a lot of damage to their boss RTL 4 with the flopping of RTL Tonight.
“How much did RTL Tonight cost RTL 4? What is the damage? Yes, it really did, I dare say, cost millions,” said the TV authority in Tina’s TV Update.
New TV decor
What do those millions go into? “Not only the fact that a new set had to be built, that expensive experts were hired, that many people were added to the editorial team throughout the year, that people had to be bought off, quite a lot has changed,” says Tina.
She continues: “In the end, I think the damage certainly ran into millions, especially because they took out a lot of commercial breaks in the beginning, just to ensure that RTL Tonight would score. That did not happen. When removing those commercial breaks, you are already talking about tons per week.”
Millions of euros
How many million exactly did this cost RTL? “I dare not say how many million, I think that is too difficult an estimate, but it certainly cost several millions. Also because Beau and Humberto may still have to be paid because they suddenly can no longer present a talk show, etcetera, etcetera.”
“And those commercial breaks that cost a lot because they were missing, but also because there were fewer viewers in front of the TV than expected. This talk show has been a major damage and a terrible blow for RTL 4. I really hope for them that Renze will do much better this coming autumn.”
“They could use a boost on that late evening from RTL 4.”