Achtung Reichelt!
Achtung, Reichelt! is a political talk and opinion show hosted by former Bild editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt. The launch of the show marked Reichelt's first program since leaving Bild. This format has since become one of the core elements of the right-wing populist media platform Nius. His show appears several times a week on YouTube and the Nius website, as well as other digital platforms, and sees itself as a pointed conservative counterpoint to established media. In terms of content, the format combines Reichelt's personal comments on current political events with interviews and discussions, often provocative in tone, deliberately controversial, and right-wing conservative.
With its mixture of direct language, sharp political commentary, and pointed theses, the format is highly polarizing: critics accuse Reichelt of right-wing populism and simplification, while supporters appreciate his unconventional, oppositional stance toward traditional media.
Julian Reichelt was editor-in-chief of Bild, Germany's highest-circulation tabloid newspaper, until 2021. His tenure ended abruptly after allegations of abuse of power and inappropriate behavior led to his departure from Axel Springer. Reichelt then used his media experience to found Rome Medien GmbH, with which he established the format Achtung, Reichelt! in 2022.
Since 2023, several formats developed within the network around Achtung, Reichelt! and Rome Medien GmbH under the direction of Julian Reichelt have been gradually transferred to VIUS SE & Co KGaA. VIUS SE is the operating company behind the Nius platform, with formats such as Achtung, Reichelt! in the mixed style of a news site, with interview and talk show formats and a strong presence on social media.
In 2025, Rome Medien GmbH merged with VIUS SE & Co. KGaA, and thus Achtung, Reichelt! is now also a VIUS program.
Key Facts
| Social Media Accounts | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | User Name | User Handle | Followers | Following | Likes | Views |
 | Achtung, Reichelt! | @AchtungReichelt | 540,000 | 244,353,831 | ||
 | achtung, reichelt! | @achtung_reichelt | 68,900 | 8 | 1,200,000 | |
 | Achtung, Reichelt! | @achtung.reichelt | 97,600 | 42 | ||
 | Achtung, Reichelt | @Achtung, Reichelt | 37,685 | |||
 | Achtung, Reichelt! | @Achtung, Reichelt! | 23,102 | |||
| Data Publicly Available | ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc. |
|---|---|
| Language | German |
| Founding Year | 2022 Julian Reichelt went online on YouTube in 2022 with his current format “Achtung, Reichelt!” Julian Reichelt joined Twitter (now X) in 2009 with his personal profile. At that time, he was still working as a reporter for Bild. Over the years, his online presence has expanded to include various profiles. |
Ownership
| Individual Owner | |
|---|---|
| Group / Individual Owner |
|
Facts
| Topics Covered / Focus Areas | Julian Reichelt's format covers a wide range of topics in the areas of migration, economics, politics, crime, media, and identity politics. Achtung, Reichelt! focuses on current events, summarizing and commenting on them in 20-minute video formats with a strong opinion-journalistic slant. The geographical focus is on Germany, but international topics and events are always commented on in relation to Germany. |
|---|---|
| Views / Values / Political Stances | The political orientation of the format can be classified as far-right populist – both in terms of social and economic policy. Achtung, Reichelt! is a migration-critical format that incites hatred against certain minorities, repeatedly takes positions from the far right, and loudly amplifies them. LGBTQI issues are commented on in a defamatory tone, the extent and consequences of climate change are denied, and public broadcasters are criticized for their supposedly left-wing reporting. Economic policy issues are a recurring part of the format, which deals with inflation, unemployment, deindustrialization, and economic decline. |
| Mode of Delivery | Achtung, Reichelt! is produced in longer video formats in the style of news broadcasts. These appear every two to three days and are subsequently published in small clips focusing on specific topics and statements, multiple times daily, preferably in vertical-format videos on Instagram, TikTok, Telegram, and Facebook. The tone is deliberately controversial, populist, tabloid-style, and sensationalist to apocalyptic. |
| Reputation | Achtung, Reichelt! is criticized across wide parts of society and the media spectrum and is regarded as unreliable. The reporting is heavily opinion-driven, sensationalist, and overall characterized by a dark tone. Despite this reputation and criticism, the channel is considered influential, particularly in right-wing populist circles, within the AfD, and among right-conservative sections of the Union party. Reporting from Achtung, Reichelt! (and Nius) thus played a significant role in the debate over the constitutional court judge election of candidate Brosius-Gersdorf and her subsequent withdrawal. |
| Target Audience | The target audience is conservative to right-wing sections of German society who no longer feel that their views are represented by traditional private or public media. Nius describes itself as the “voice of the majority.” Thanks to its strong presence on social media and its focus on YouTube as its main platform for publishing and distribution, Achtung, Reichelt! also targets young audiences, but not exclusively. |
| Part of Network or Campaign | Achtung, Reichelt! is part of Nius, a project and idea conceived by Julian Reichelt to establish an alternative right-wing media network. Its style is similar to the former format of Bild TV, a live-stream news program by Bild, where Julian Reichelt was formerly editor-in-chief and where he gained his expertise and contacts. Through the connection to Nius and the operating company VIUS SE & Co. KGaA, owned by Frank Gotthardt, there are links to the DRF TV stations, at least through Gotthardt himself. Connections within the conservative camp surrounding financial investor and VIUS owner Frank Gotthardt to Jens Spahn (CDU parliamentary group leader) and Sebastian Kurz (former Austrian chancellor) point to a wide-ranging, financially strong, and powerful network of key figures in the worlds of finance, media, and politics. |
|---|---|
| Cross-Posting & Friends | With Julian Reichelt's mission to build a right-wing media group, his format is closely linked to other shows, programs, and editors, both editorially and through the corporate structure of VIUS and the Nius platform. The other Nius formats Schuler, Fragen was ist! (@ralf-schuler), Gio unzensiert (@Giounzensiert), Kissler Kompakt (@Kissler-Kompakt), and Real Talk mit Julius Böhm (@realtalk_juliusboehm). These programs are hosted by Ralf Schuler, Giovanna Winterfeldt, Alexander Kissler, and Julius Böhm—all of whom are part of Nius. The programs are similar in their political orientation to Achtung, Reichelt!, are mentioned and sometimes also played in with their content, and refer in a similar way to current and socio-political topics from a right-wing populist perspective. The formats differ in terms of their target audience and length: While Ralf Schuler and Alexander Kissler are journalists with long careers at Bild (Schuler) and other national media outlets such as SZ, NZZ, and FAZ (Kissler), Julius Böhm and Giovanna Steinfeldt appeal to a younger audience and are relative newcomers to the media industry. |
| Endorsements & Recognitions | Achtung, Reichelt! is known beyond its format, primarily due to its close connection with Nius. Nius was compared to other established left-wing media outlets by Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU), and Federal Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) also commented on the channel. Satirist Florian Schröder has also been a guest on Reichelt's show. Thanks to his presence and centrality on the platform, Julian Reichelt as a person and his format are known far beyond his direct visitors and subscribers. |
| Business Model | Achtung, Reichelt! has been a fully-fledged format of VIUS SE & Co. KGaA from 2025. It was previously published by Rome Medien GmbH. As part of VIUS and the Nius news platform, it is partly paid for by Nius subscriptions. However, user data leaked in a hacker attack in the summer of 2025 shows that only a small number of users pay for subscriptions. It can therefore be assumed that a large part of the operating, salary, and investment costs come from Frank Gotthardt's assets. According to research by Die Zeit, Gotthardt is said to have invested up to 50 million euros in the station. VIUS SE & Co. KGaA reported a deficit of 13.4 million euros for the 2023 financial year. The investigative portal Correctiv reports that Gotthardt has made 9.4 million euros available as a reserve. |
|---|---|
| publishing_entity | VIUS SE & Co. KGaA |
| Revenue | Missing data |