RTL 4 is significantly moving up its prime time block this summer, from 8:30 PM to 9:00 PM in the evening. Tina Nijkamp calls it a striking step. “We have never seen such a big change before.”
Dutch television viewers have traditionally been used to it: the big work starts at half past eight. For decades, 8:30 PM has been the sacred hour when the ratings cannons start. RTL 4 is throwing that overboard this summer. B&B Vol Liefde, the crowd favorite that dominates the summer rankings every season, starts on July 20 at 8:55 PM. Until 10:30 PM.
Schedule turned upside down
It is a significant shift that turns the entire evening schedule upside down, Tina Nijkamp explains in her podcast Tina’s TV Update. “B&B Vol Liefde will have a new time, no longer at 8:30 PM, but at 8:55 PM. From July 20. This also means that the program will continue until 10:30 PM.”
The GTST replacement with Ruben Nicolai will take longer. “The quiz I Know Everything About It, which actually replaces GTST every summer, will be an hour instead of half an hour. Normally it was from 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM and now from 8:00 PM to 8:55 PM, until B&B Vol Liefde starts.”
‘Looks like Spain!’
Tina thinks this is really big news. “It is a big change in the schedule for RTL 4. Never before, I think, have we seen such a big change. Prime time starting so late is quite something for the southern countries. That of course has to do with the nice weather there and the fact that they eat much later there, etc..”
She continues: “In Spain you see that the biggest programs start very late and RTL 4 seems to be participating in that a little bit this summer.”
Late evening
What will RTL 4 do in the summer in the late evening, after B&B Vol Liefde? “Then RTL 4 doesn’t know yet what they are going to broadcast. In any case, it is not yet in the schedules. I suspect it will be Nederland Is Op Vakantie. That is a new program and it seems to be a bit of a combination of Editie NL and RTL Boulevard.”
Tina received that as a tip. “I don’t know much else about it yet. Vivienne van den Assem is said to have presented the pilot. It would come from the studio of 112 Today. So it looks a bit like that RTL Summernight from last summer. We don’t know yet whether it is correct. There is no official press release about that yet.”
Will RTL 4 continue with a later prime time in the autumn? “That is not known yet.”