ZDF

Logo of ZDF

ZDF is a nationwide broadcaster based in Mainz. The television channel of the same name is the broadcaster with the widest reach in Germany, with a market share of 14.6 % in 2023. ZDF operates a total of 17 domestic studios in the state capitals of the federal states and 18 foreign studios.
The origins of ZDF lie in the attempt by the then federal government to form a counterweight to the ARD broadcasters. This television station, planned as "Deutschland-Fernsehen GmbH", was to be under the control of the federal government, but was prevented by a judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court, as according to the Basic Law, the federal states are responsible for broadcasting operations (see: Founder).
Similar to the state broadcasting organisations, ZDF also has supervisory bodies:
The ZDF Television Council consists of 60 members, 16 of whom are representatives of the federal states and two of whom are representatives of the federal government. A further 16 representatives for areas specified in the ZDF State Treaty (e.g. consumer protection, digital affairs, art and culture) are also delegated by the federal states. The remaining members are delegated by socially relevant groups such as churches, trade unions and non-governmental organisations. The term of office is four years, whereby the number of joint terms of office in the Television Board and the Administrative Board is limited to three. The current Federal Television Council is represented by the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Lisa Paus, and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Justice, Heiko Maaß.
The Administrative Board consists of 12 members: four representatives of the federal states, who are appointed jointly by the Minister Presidents of all federal states, and eight members elected by the Television Council. State or state-affiliated members of the Television Council are not eligible to stand for election. The term of office is five years, whereby the number of joint terms of office in the Television Council and the Administrative Board is limited to three.
In 2014, a lawsuit for a review of standards was successful before the Federal Constitutional Court, which found that the existing rules on the composition of the ZDF supervisory bodies were not sufficiently remote from the state. Subsequently, the ZDF State Treaty was amended and the number of state and state-affiliated members on the Television Board and Administrative Board was more strictly limited.

Key Facts

Business FormState-funded
Legal FormInstitution under public law (Anstalt des öffentlichen Rechts)

Ownership

Individual Owner

Media Outlets

Other Media Outlets

Other TV Outlets
  • ZDFinfo (1.8%)
  • ZDFneo (2%)
  • Phoenix (0.8%) (gemeinsam mit der ARD)
  • KiKa (0.6%) (gemeinsam it der ARD)
Other Radio Outlets
  • Deutschlandfunk (3%) (together with ARD)
  • Deutschlandfunk Kultur (0.8%) (together with ARD)
  • Deutschlandfunk Nova (0.2%) (together with ARD)
Other Online Outlets
  • www.heute.de (MD)
  • www.zdf.de (1.54%)
  • www.kika.de (0.03%)
  • www.deutschlandfunk.de (0.21%)
  • www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de (MD)
  • www.deutschlandfunknova.de (MD)
  • www.funk.net (MD)
  • www.zdfsport.de (MD)
  • www.zdftivi.de (MD)
  • www.zdf-werbefernsehen.de (MD)
  • www.phoenix.de (0.03%)
  • www.deutschlandradio.de (MD)
  • www.dlf-podcastfinder.de (MD)
  • ZDF Mediathek (Video on Demand)
  • www.funk.net (MD)
  • FUNK (Content-Netzwerk, together with ARD)

Facts

Other Media BusinessesTelevision and film studios
  • Bavaria Studios GmbH (25.1%)
Market research
  • AGF Videoforschung GmbH (17.65%)
TV broadcaster
  • ARTE Deutschland GmbH (50%)
Broadcasting rights sports
  • SportA Sportrechte- und Marketing-Agentur (50%)
Advertising
  • ZDF Werbefernsehen GmbH (100%)
  • ARD & ZDF Fernsehwerbung GmbH (50%)
Holding
  • ZDF Studios GmbH (100%)
Production
  • Bavaria Fiction GmbH (49%)
  • CONTENT LADEN (70%)
  • doc.station Medienproduktion GmbH (100%)
  • Doclights GmbH (49%)
  • Fiction Magnet (49%)
  • Gruppe 5 Filmproduktion GmbH (74.9%)
  • Intaglio Films GmbH (49%)
  • Mainstream Networks Holding GmbH & Co. KG(26%)
  • NADCON Film GmbH (49%)
  • Network Movie Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH (100%)
  • Real Film Berlin (49%)
  • Riverside Entertainment GmbH (49%)
  • Studio.TV.Film GmbH (50%)
  • ZDF Digital Medienproduktion GmbH (100%)
Music production
  • Enterprises Sonor Musik GmbH (49%)
Service
  • ZDF Service GmbH (100%)
AI Agency
  • ZDF Sparks (100%)
Seminars and training
  • ARD.ZDF medienakademie gGmbH (12%)
Other International BusinessesTV channel
  • ARTE (via ARTE Deutschland GmbH) (Missing data)
Founding Year1961
Founder
  • The federal states of the Federal Republic of Germany
    (Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Lower Saxony) The federal government under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer originally planned a second broadcasting programme under the control of the federal government in addition to the ARD programme, for which Deutschland-Fernsehen GmbH was founded. The federal states, who saw this as a violation of their sovereignty over broadcasting, successfully took legal action against these plans before the Federal Constitutional Court, causing the federal government to stop the project. In response, the federal states jointly founded ZDF in 1961. Professor Dr Karl Holzamer was elected as the first director general of ZDF on 12 March 1962.
ContactZweites Deutsches Fernsehen
ZDF-Straße 1
55127 Mainz
Germany
info@zdf.de
06131/70-0
www.zdf.de
Tax / ID NumberDE 149 065 327
Revenue€ 2.473 Billion / USD 2.596 Billion (2022)
Operating Profit€ 19.2 Mio. / USD 20.16 Million (2022)
Advertising (in % of total funding)€ 178.5 Mio. / USD 187.4 Million (2022)
Executive Board
  • Dr Norbert Himmler
    Director General of ZDF since March 2022, having previously been Programme Director since 2012. He is a member of the supervisory board of several ZDF subsidiaries, such as ZDF Studios GmbH and ZDF Werbefernsehen GmbH. He is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Aktion Mensch e.V.
  • Bettina Schausten
    Editor-in-chief of ZDF since October 2022 From 1992 to 1996, Schausten worked for Südwestrundfunk, then from 1996 in various positions for ZDF. From 2010 to 2019, she headed the capital city studio in Berlin. Schausten is also a member of the supervisory board of dpa (German Press Agency). Her husband Thomas Fuhrmann has been Head of Sports at ZDF since 2019.
  • Karin Brieden
    Administrative Director and Deputy Director General of ZDF since January 2014. Prior to this, Brieden was Personnel Officer in the State Chancellery of Rhineland-Palatinate (1992-1997) and Administrative Director of Deutschlandradio since 2002. As a representative of ZDF, she is also a member of numerous supervisory boards, for example for ZDF Studios GmbH and Bavaria Studios GmbH. She is also a member of the supervisory board of GID - Gesellschaft für infrastrukturelle Dienste mbH.
  • Dr Nadine Bilke
    Programme Director since May 2022 Bilke has worked for ZDF in various positions since 2002, most recently as Head of ZDFneo (2018-2022).
  • Dr Michael Rombach
    Production Director of ZDF since January 2019, previously Production Director of NDR (2007-2018).
  • Peter Weber
    General Counsel of ZDF since 2011, having previously been Deputy General Counsel from 2001 to 2011. Since 2007, Weber has also been President of the Legal Commission of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). As a representative of ZDF, he is a member of several supervisory boards of ZDF subsidiaries; Weber is also Deputy Chairman of the Mainz Media Institute.
Non-Executive Board
  • noname-304046
    The ZDF Television Council consists of 60 members. Listed here are the chairperson, the deputy chairperson, the chairpersons of the committees and their deputies.
  • Gerda Hasselfeldt
    Chairwoman of the ZDF Television Council since July 2024 She is President of the German Red Cross and a former professional politician. She was a member of the German Bundestag (CSU) from 1987 to 2017. She was Federal Minister for Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development from 1989 to 1991 and Federal Minister of Health from 1991 to 1992.
  • Katrin Kroemer
    Deputy Chairwoman of the Television Council since 2016 She was delegated by the German Journalists' Association (DJV), of which she has been Treasurer since 2015. Kroemer works as a freelance editor-in-chief for Top Magazin Ruhr and also heads the constituency office of SPD member of parliament Helge Lindh in Wuppertal.
  • Dr Achim Dercks
    Chairman of the Strategy and Coordination Committee. Dercks has been a member of the Television Council since 2005 as a representative of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, of which he is also Deputy Managing Director. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the RKW Competence Centre and a member of the Advisory Board of the German Adult Education Association (vhs).
  • Dr Hans Ulrich Anke
    Deputy Chairman of the Strategy and Coordination Committee. Anke has been a representative of the Evangelical Church (EKD) on the Television Council since 2011. Anke's main job is President of the Church Office of the EKD. He is a member of several supervisory boards for his employer's companies, Chairman of the Shareholders' Meeting of Ecclesia Holding GmbH and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the non-profit organisation DIAKOVERE GmbH.
  • Dr Olaf Joachim
    Chairman of the Finance, Investment and Technology Committee. Joachim has represented the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen as one of the 16 representatives of the federal states since 2011. His main job is as State Councillor for Media Affairs, Development Cooperation and International Affairs at the Bremen Senate Chancellery. Since 2015, Joachim has also been the representative of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen to the Federal Government and for Europe. He also holds several supervisory board mandates, for example for the association of municipal clinics in Bremen, Gesundheit Nord, and Bremer Aufbaubank.
  • Dr Christiane Schenderlein
    Deputy Chairwoman of the Committee on Finance, Investment and Technology. As a representative of the state of Saxony, Schenderlein has been a member of the Television Council since 2020. She is a member of the German Bundestag. Schenderlein also holds other political offices, for example as district chairwoman of the CDU Nordsachsen, as a member of the state board of the Saxon Union and the Mittelstandsunion Sachsen. Schenderlein is a member of the supervisory board of ZDF Werbefernsehen GmbH.
  • Frank Werneke
    Chairman of the Editor-in-Chief Programme Committee. Werneke has been a member of the Television Council as a delegate of the trade union ver.di since 2012. He is chairman of ver.di. Werneke is also a member of the SPD. As an employee representative, he is a member of the Supervisory Board of E.ON SE, of which Werneke is Deputy Chairman. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of ZDF Studios GmbH.
  • Steffen Kampeter
    Deputy Chairman of the Programme Committee Editor-in-Chief. Kampeter has been a member of the Television Council since 2018. He was a member of the Bundestag for the CDU between 1990 and 2016. From 2009, he was Parliamentary Managing Director at the Federal Ministry of Finance. Mr Kampeter is currently Managing Director of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Georgsmarienhütte Holding GmbH. Kampeter is also a member of the Executive Committee of the German Economic Institute.
  • Dr Hans Langendörfer
    Chairman of the Programme Committee. Programme Directorate. He has been a member of the Television Council since 2004 as a representative of the Catholic Church in Germany. Until January 2021, he was Secretary of the German Bishops' Conference.
  • Luca Renner
    Deputy Chair of the Programme Committee Programme Directorate. Renner has been part of the Television Council as a representative of the queer community since 2016. She is part of the legal department of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). Renner is also a board member of the Lesbian and Gay Federation (LSVD) Thuringia e.V.
  • Dr Claudia Conen
    Chair of the Partner Programmes Committee. Conen has been a delegate of Europa-Union Deutschland e.V. on the Television Council since 2016. Her main job is Managing Director of the Federal Association of German Leasing Companies (BDL). Conen also holds a seat on the supervisory board of acta Management AG and the position of regional chairwoman of Europa-Union Thüringen e.V.
  • Dr Karin Haug
    Deputy Chairwoman of the Partner Programmes Committee. Haug was appointed to the Television Council in 2016 as a representative for regional and minority languages by the state of Schleswig-Holstein. She is a trained journalist and also works as a speechwriter and constituency worker for Christian Dirschauer (SSW), a member of the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament.
  • Cornelia Tausch
    Chairwoman of the Telemedia Committee. The state of Baden-Württemberg delegated Tausch as its representative for consumer protection in 2016. She is a board member of Verbraucherzentrale Baden-Württemberg e.V. Tausch is a member of the SPD and was a member of the North Rhine-Westphalia state parliament from 2000 to 2005.
  • Prof Dr Hans-Günter Henneke
    Deputy Chairman of the Telemedia Committee. Henneke was delegated in 2017 as a representative of the German Association of Districts, of which he is a member of the Executive Committee. He is also Vice President of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association, a member of the Supervisory Board of DeKaBank and a member of the Board of Directors of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (kfw).
Supervisory Board
  • noname-304061
    The Administrative Board consists of 12 members:
  • Malu Dreyer
    Chairwoman of the ZDF Administrative Board since July 2017. Dreyer was the acting Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate (SPD) from 2013 to July 2024 and one of four members nominated by the federal states.
  • Peter Heesen
    Deputy Chairman. Heesen has been a member of the Administrative Board since 2017. He is a retired teacher and honorary chairman of the dbb beamtenbund und tarifunion, whose federal chairman he was from 2003-2012.
  • Prof. Dr. Barbara Thomaß
    Second Vice-Chair. Thomaß is a retired university professor who held the Chair of Media Systems in International Comparison at the Ruhr University Bochum until 2020. She is also the chair of the board of the Akademie für Publizistik e.V.
  • Dr Reiner Haseloff
    Haseloff is the current Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt (CDU) and one of four members nominated by the federal states.
  • Winfried Kretschmann
    Kretschmann is the current Minister President of Baden-Württemberg (Bündnis 9 0/The Greens) and one of four members nominated by the federal states.
  • Manuela Schwesig
    Schwesig is the current Minister President of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (SPD) and one of four members nominated by the federal states.
  • Prof. Dr. Gabriele Beibst
    Beibst has been a member of the Administrative Board since 2017. She was previously the rector of the Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences in Jena.
  • Bärbel Bergerhoff-Wodopia
    Bergerhoff-Wodopia has been a member of the Administrative Board since 2017. She is chairwoman of the supervisory board of the housing company Vivawest GmbH and a member of the board of the RAG Foundation. She has also been a member of the Supervisory Board of RAG Aktiengesellschaft since 2012 and was a member of the Supervisory Board of RAK Deutsche Steinkohle AG from 2012 until its dissolution.
  • Prof. Dr. Leonhard Dobusch
    Dobusch is a university professor of business administration specialising in organisation at the University of Innsbruck and has been a member of the Administrative Board since 2022. He is a member of the General Council of the Austrian National Bank and a member of the Supervisory Board of ÖBB Personenverkehr AG. Dobusch is also Deputy Chairman of both the Momentum Association for Critical Science and the Momentum Institute for Social Progress.
  • Dr Reinhard Göhner
    has been a member of the Administrative Board since 2012. He is a lawyer and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Pensions-Sicherungs-Verein (PSVaG). Göhner has been a member of the National Regulatory Control Council since 2022. From 1996 to 2016, he was the managing director of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), from 1983 to 2007 a member of the Bundestag for the CDU, and from 1990 to 1994 Parliamentary State Secretary, first in the Federal Ministry of Justice and later in the Federal Ministry of Economics.
  • Michael Sommer
    Sommer has been a member of the Administrative Board since 2016. He is a former federal chairman of the German Trade Union Federation (DGB) and a member of the Supervisory Board of ZDF Studios GmbH. Sommer is a member of the SPD and Deputy Chairman of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
  • Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff
    Wolff is the Rector of the University of Wuppertal and has been a member of the Administrative Board since 2017. She is also a member of the Supervisory Board of ZDF Studios GmbH and Deputy Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of SPRIND – Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen GmbH. From 2010 to 2011, she was Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs of the State of Saxony-Anhalt and subsequently Minister of Science and Economics of the State of Saxony-Anhalt until April 2013.
Headlines
Passive Transparency
upon request, ownership data is easily available from the company/channel
Meta DataThe percentage of the total audience for the TV stations comes from AGF Videoforschung in collaboration with GfK 2023, accessed via Meedia.de and refers to the average annual share of the total audience.
The audience share in the online sector refers to the share of unique users, was collected by Nielsen and accessed via KEK. The date of the survey is unknown.
Note on the level of transparency:
Since it is not possible to classify the level of transparency of public media with regard to ownership structures, the evaluation included the availability of information on the supervisory and control bodies as well as information on their members and the transparency with regard to corporate investments.
Unlike the ARD broadcasting corporations, the ZDF website does not include a report on investments that clearly shows all investments.
Sources