Eva Jinek’s viewing figures are under serious pressure, while the top scorers of Today Inside are almost contract-free. One and one equals two, you would say. “But RTL thinks Johan Derksen is too risky.”
RTL 4 would kill an incredible amount of birds with one stone by bringing in the men of Today Inside. Not only does the channel finally have a talk show that scores again – Eva Jinek’s ratings are under serious pressure – but competitor SBS 6 is also ruthlessly forced to its knees.
SBS 6 tackling
It sounds like a masterstroke, explains media connoisseur Victor Vlam. “It is an attractive proposition for RTL to steal them away from Talpa, because this is simply the most successful program on SBS 6,” he says in the ever-entertaining podcast. The Communicados.
RTL would actually tackle the competitor hard. “If you remove that from there, then SBS 6 is really just nothing at all. Then there’s not much left. Then that has actually become completely irrelevant as a competitor. So that’s in it for RTL.”
Cheap
VI is also a cheap show, Victor knows. “Today Inside has four editors. It’s just four guys who make up the editorial staff there. I don’t know exactly how many people make up the editorial staff of Eva Jinek, but there are probably four times as many. So that already indicates: it is considerably more expensive to produce.”
Victor thinks that exchanging Jinek for VI is still seen as too risky by RTL. “Jinek’s contract expires at the end of 2023. So you could say: that’s ideal, you can replace Jinek with the gentlemen of Today Inside. I just think that is something that RTL will not do.”
“He’s turning 75!”
RTL then embarks on an uncertain adventure, says Victor. “It would mean that what they have built up in recent years, with Beau, Humberto and Renze in addition to Jinek, actually throw it in the trash. You could say that Today Inside is worth it, but Johan Derksen will be 75 in January next year.”
He continues: “The question is also how long he can do that on a daily basis. You can’t control it completely, of course. You have to keep in mind that this will eventually expire in the not too distant future. You will then throw away everything you have built up for something that does not have such a long life.”
Second violin
But the men of Today Inside can just be put away on RTL 7 again, right? That is now below their means, Victor thinks. “That is actually not so attractive for Today Inside, because then you are playing second fiddle. Then Jinek is always the most important talk show and then you are the second most important talk show.”
It will be their honor, he says. “That is of course a different position than what they are in now, because now they are simply the most watched and most important program for their channel.”
Via play then?
What about a transfer to a streaming service? René van der Gijp has already announced that he does not want to, probably because their reach will then decrease sharply. “I think that this is indeed not a very attractive proposition for that reason,” says Victor.
He concludes: “You can probably make a lot of money there too and the loyal viewers absolutely go with it, but you lose the occasional viewers. And that means that you ultimately surrender a piece of your influence.”