Das Erste

Logo of Das Erste

Das Erste (formerly: Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen) is the joint television channel of the nine state broadcasters in Germany. After ZDF, it is the television channel with the widest reach in Germany. The programme includes news, but also films, service topics and entertainment programmes such as lifestyle magazines and telenovelas. The crime series Tatort, which has been broadcast since 1970, is regularly one of the programmes with the highest ratings; in 2023, one of the Tatort episodes was the most-watched programme of the year with almost 14 million viewers.

Key Facts

Audience Share11.9%
Ownership TypePublic
Geographic CoverageNational
Content TypeFree
Passive Transparency
upon request, ownership data is easily available from the company/channel

Ownership

Ownership StructureDas Erste is a joint programme of ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) and is jointly operated and financed by all state broadcasters. Das Erste has no owner in the traditional sense. As part of the public broadcasting system, the channel is financed by the public through a licence fee.
Voting RightsAll broadcasters independently supply parts of the programme for Das Erste. Coordination takes place via the Video Programme Conference (VPK), which is chaired by ARD Programme Director Christine Strobl. Direct decisions are made independently by the ARD Programme Directorate. However, decisions that entail financial burdens for ARD members are made jointly. The ARD Members' Assembly (director generalenrunde) is primarily responsible for this, but far-reaching changes may also require the approval of the committees of the individual broadcasting organisations (committee reservation). Resolutions of the General Assembly of Members should generally be unanimous, whereby each broadcasting organisation is de facto entitled to one vote, as the passage in the ARD statutes that weights votes according to economic strength is not applied.
Individual Owner

Media Companies / Groups

Facts

Founding Year1952
Founder
  • Public broadcasting companies of the Federal Republic of Germany- NWDR (Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk)
    Das Erste is a direct successor to the "Deutsches Fernsehen" programme initially operated by NWDR. In 1950, the six broadcasting organisations of the Federal Republic of Germany merged to form ARD (Association of Public Broadcasting Corporations of the Federal Republic of Germany). In 1952, the NWDR was the first broadcaster to broadcast a regular television programme, which was initially limited to a specific region. From 1954, the other broadcasters also joined in. In 1984, the broadcaster was renamed "Erstes Deutsches Fernsehen" and in 1996 "Das Erste".
CEO
  • Prof Dr Kai Gniffke
    has been the director general of SWR since September 2019 and Chairman of ARD in this role since January 2023. From 1999 to 2003, Gniffke was head of ARD-aktuell, of which he was the first editor-in-chief from 2006 to 2019. Gniffke is a member of the SPD. He is also a member of the supervisory boards of several companies in which SWR has a stake, as well as a member of various boards of trustees and foundation boards.
Editor-In-Chief
  • Christine Strobl
    Programme Director of ARD. Strobl had been Managing Director of Degeto Film GmbH since 2012 and took over as ARD Programme Director in 2021. Strobl is the daughter of the late CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble (1942-2023). She is a CDU member herself and is married to Thomas Strobl (also CDU), Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg.
Other Important People
  • Sophie Burkhardt
    Deputy Program Director of ARD since 2022 and, as ARD Channel Manager, also responsible for the online offering and the ARD media library. She previously worked for ZDF in the main editorial department for digital media, where she developed funk, the joint content network of ARD and ZDF, between 2015 and 2021.
  • Oliver Köhr
    since 2021 Editor-in-Chief of ARD and Deputy Programme Director.
ContactARD-Programmdirektion
Arnulfstr. 42
80335 München
Germany
info@daserste.de
089/55 89 44 0
www.daserste.de
RevenueMissing Data
Operating ProfitMissing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)Missing Data
Market ShareMissing Data
Headlines
Meta DataThe share of the total audience in per cent for the TV channels comes from AGF Videoforschung in cooperation with GfK 2023, retrieved via Meedia.de and refers to the average annual share of the total audience
Financial data is shown as 'Missing data', as a breakdown of finances is only provided at broadcaster level. Individual data on broadcasters is not published.
Note on the transparency level:
As it is not possible to categorise the transparency level for public service media in terms of ownership structures, the availability of information on the supervisory and control bodies as well as information on their members and transparency with regard to corporate shareholdings were included in the assessment.
Sources
Documents (PDF)