"Köln 50667" to be discontinued
Once launched as an offshoot of "Berlin - Tag & Nacht", the daily soap "Köln 50667" on RTLZwei soon had its own fan base. However, the series has fallen off the road to success - despite a comprehensive relaunch at the beginning of the year. Now those responsible are pulling the ripcord.
The series "Köln 50667" is being wound up after eleven years on television. This was announced by the broadcaster RTLZwei. "The production of our long-running daily soap is being discontinued. We are extremely sad about this news, but we can give you a little consolation at this point," it says in a message on Instagram.
The "consolation" is that new episodes are still being filmed, so the end of the series is still a little way off. The last episode is not expected to be broadcast until early summer 2024.
Commenting on the decision, Malte Kruber, Program Director Entertainment at RTLZwei, told Bild newspaper: "Producing a daily soap is expensive. Measured against this, the performance is no longer consistently satisfactory."
In turn, Kruber told the industry portal "DWDL" that they had recently "tried a lot to build on previous great successes. This has not been sufficiently successful. It's hard for us to say goodbye." The daily soap had long been "one of the station's defining format brands". For all those involved in "Köln 50667", the following therefore applies: "You can bring the curtain down with your heads held high with pride."
Target group has disappeared
Nevertheless, the staff and actors were probably somewhat surprised by the decision. According to "Bild", they were only informed a few hours before the public announcement of the format's discontinuation.
"Köln 50667" has been on RTLZwei since January 7, 2013. The series was launched as a spin-off of the daily soap "Berlin - Tag & Nacht", which is not affected by the current plans and is to be continued. Although "Köln 50667" soon had a fan base of its own, its success has waned noticeably of late.
According to "DWDL", the very young target group in particular, which now has different viewing habits and watches less and less linear television, has been increasingly lost. While "Köln 50667" still achieved target group market shares of up to 17% and more in the early years, recently less than 3% of 14 to 49-year-olds tuned in.
Unsuccessful relaunch
At the beginning of the year, RTLZwei tried to save what could be saved with a comprehensive relaunch of the series. The daily soap was reinventing itself "with a new cast, new worlds and new stories", the broadcaster announced at the time.
The action was moved from Cologne city center to the Mühlheim district. Numerous leading actors and actresses had to leave and were replaced. Among them was fan favorite Pia Tillmann, who recently appeared with her partner Zico Banach in the RTL show "Das Sommerhaus der Stars" and announced shortly afterwards that she was expecting her second child.
For all disappointed "Köln 50667" fans, program director Kruber may have a second consolation up his sleeve. In an interview with "DWDL", he promises: "'Köln 50667' will have a worthy successor."
Despite the relaunch of "Köln 50667" with new actors and settings, the TV series on RTLZwei struggled to regain its former audience, particularly among the younger demographic that now prefers non-linear viewing options. This shift in viewing habits led to significantly lower viewer ratings, with less than 3% of 14 to 49-year-olds tuning in recently.
In light of the decreasing popularity and high production costs, RTLZwei decided to discontinue the daily soap "Köln 50667," a format that had been a defining brand for the channel for many years. The decision to end the series was met with sadness by both the staff and the fan base, but they can take pride in the eleven years of entertainment they provided through TV episodes on RTL and RTLZwei.
Source: www.ntv.de
