RTL Deutschland builds dedicated AI infrastructure for Smartclip platform
RTL Technology develops standalone server cluster to support Sidekicks agentic AI platform without external cloud reliance, advancing automation across media workflows.

RTL Deutschland announced on October 16, 2025, the development of a dedicated high-performance AI infrastructure designed to power Smartclip's Sidekicks platform. The standalone server cluster, developed and hosted by RTL Technology, enables the agent-based AI platform to operate without external cloud dependencies.
The infrastructure supports Sidekicks, an agentic AI platform launched by Smartclip in July 2025. Smartclip, RTL Group's advertising technology subsidiary, created the platform in collaboration with Realytics to integrate AI agents directly into day-to-day media workflows. The system delivers scalable automation across campaign management and cross-media planning operations.
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According to Frank Penning, Chief Information Officer at RTL Deutschland and Managing Director of RTL Technology, "The establishment of a dedicated AI server infrastructure for Sidekicks underscores RTL Deutschland's commitment to fostering innovation in this field while maintaining the operational integrity of systems and data." The isolated cluster provides both computing power and security necessary to advance agent-based AI in practice.
RTL Technology designed the infrastructure with advanced cooling systems and secure, isolated connections to ensure smooth and protected operations. The architecture creates what the company describes as a fully AI-ready environment built for speed, reliability and future innovation. By hosting the platform on internal systems rather than external cloud providers, Smartclip maintains control over development and deployment standards for data privacy, reliability and scalability.
The technical implementation represents a significant investment in proprietary AI capabilities. The server cluster operates independently from RTL Deutschland's main operational systems, preventing any potential impact on existing television, streaming and digital media services. This separation ensures that experimental AI development and production media operations remain isolated from each other.
Thomas Servatius, Co-CEO at Smartclip, emphasized the platform's focus on practical business applications rather than general-purpose AI tools. "While using GenAI (Generative AI) for general purposes normally is very intuitive, it is surprisingly complex to get it to work reliably in complex business environments," Servatius stated. The Sidekicks approach addresses this challenge by engineering the platform to protect competitive organizational knowledge while keeping critical information in-house.
Guillaume Belmas, CEO of Realytics, described the platform's design philosophy as grounded in operational realities. "Our vision for Sidekicks is grounded in the day-to-day realities of media professionals," Belmas explained. "By embedding intelligence where it's needed most – in the actual flow of work – we can help teams move faster, smarter and with greater confidence in a world where complexity and fragmentation are only increasing."
The Sidekicks platform delivers specialized AI agents that assist advertising professionals throughout the complete value chain. These agents handle tasks ranging from cross-media advertising coordination to data insights analysis and performance optimization. The system processes information from multiple sources while maintaining organizational data boundaries, addressing concerns about sensitive business information exposure to external AI systems.
Smartclip and Realytics clients will receive initial access to the platform. RTL Deutschland and its advertising sales division Ad Alliance are evaluating pilot integration opportunities for AI-driven automation in campaign management and cross-media planning. The companies plan to extend availability to the wider media industry following successful internal deployments.
The collaboration demonstrates RTL Group's strategy of leveraging internal partnerships to advance technology development. RTL Technology, RTL Deutschland's technical division, combined expertise with Smartclip to create shared infrastructure supporting AI innovation. This approach enables resource sharing while maintaining security standards across different business units within the RTL ecosystem.
The Bertelsmann AI Hub provided backing for the Sidekicks development, indicating broader organizational support for artificial intelligence initiatives. Bertelsmann, RTL Group's majority shareholder, operates the AI Hub to coordinate machine learning and automation projects across its portfolio companies. This support structure facilitates knowledge transfer and technical collaboration between different Bertelsmann entities.
Agentic AI refers to artificial intelligence systems capable of autonomous operation to achieve specific goals with minimal human supervision. The technology represents a shift from passive AI tools that respond to prompts toward active systems that can manage entire workflows independently. Industry data indicates substantial investment momentum, with McKinsey reporting $1.1 billion in equity investment flowing into agentic AI during 2024 and job postings related to the technology increasing 985 percent from 2023 to 2024.
Multiple advertising technology platforms have introduced AI agent capabilities throughout 2025. LiveRamp launched agentic orchestration on October 1, 2025, enabling autonomous AI agents to access identity resolution, segmentation and measurement tools. Adobe announced its Experience Platform Agent Orchestrator on September 10, 2025, for businesses to manage agents across Adobe and third-party ecosystems. Amazon introduced agentic AI capabilities on September 17, 2025, transforming marketplace management through systems that monitor accounts, optimize inventory and manage advertising campaigns autonomously.
The advertising industry faces increasing pressure toward automation as campaign complexity grows and manual processes become unsustainable at scale. The Ad Context Protocol, launched on October 15, 2025, provides a unified interface for AI agents to manage campaigns across different advertising platforms. These developments reflect broader industry trends toward intelligent systems that can handle multi-platform coordination, real-time optimization and data-driven decision-making without constant human intervention.
RTL Group has invested substantially in advertising technology infrastructure to capture growing digital advertising demand. The company reported 27.1 percent digital advertising revenue growth to €230 million in the first half of 2025, according to interim results for the six months ending June 30, 2025. Digital advertising now represents 16.4 percent of RTL Group's total advertising revenue, up from 12.5 percent in the first half of 2024.
Smartclip operates as RTL Group's primary advertising technology subsidiary, providing programmatic advertising solutions across the company's media properties. In March 2025, RTL Hungary partnered with Smartclip to adopt Smartx, the company's ad-server and supply-side platform. This implementation enhances targeting capabilities and campaign optimization for advertisers seeking to reach Hungarian audiences through digital channels.
RTL AdAlliance launched its AdManager platform in March 2025, enabling advertisers to independently manage Total Video campaigns with complete flexibility and control. The self-service platform provides access to premium broadcaster inventory across multiple European markets including Germany, Italy, Spain, Nordic countries and France. Advertisers can create campaigns through a five-step process covering channel selection, budget parameters, audience targeting, creative upload and campaign launch with integrated payment systems.
The infrastructure development occurs as traditional demand-side platform business models face potential disruption from agentic AI. Industry analysis suggests autonomous AI systems could automate campaign setup, targeting and optimization functions currently handled by human operators. This technological shift threatens established programmatic advertising infrastructure while creating opportunities for companies that successfully implement agent-based systems.
Privacy-compliant advertising technology has become increasingly important as the industry transitions away from third-party cookies. Ad Alliance, RTL Deutschland's marketing division, announced partnerships in September 2025 to establish cookieless targeting capabilities. These collaborations integrate telecommunications-powered identifier solutions and consent management systems into Ad Alliance's data infrastructure, enabling cross-device campaign delivery while maintaining regulatory compliance.
The server infrastructure investment positions RTL Deutschland to maintain competitive advantage as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates across media operations. The company's approach of building proprietary systems rather than relying on external cloud providers reflects strategic priorities around data control, system reliability and long-term technology independence. This infrastructure model enables continuous development and refinement based on internal requirements rather than constraints imposed by third-party service agreements.
RTL Group operates 52 television channels, six streaming services and 37 radio stations across Europe. RTL Deutschland functions as the Group's largest business unit and Germany's first cross-media champion, operating comprehensive services across television, streaming, radio, digital and publishing sectors. The company's streaming services include RTL+ in Germany and Hungary, and M6+ in France. Fremantle, owned by RTL Group, produces more than 11,000 hours of programming annually alongside an international network operating in 28 countries.
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The dedicated infrastructure supports broader organizational objectives around secure innovation and operational integrity. The system's design enables development teams to experiment with new AI capabilities while maintaining separation from production media systems. This architecture provides flexibility for rapid iteration and testing without risking disruption to established broadcasting, streaming and digital media operations that serve millions of European viewers daily.
The announcement follows ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL's collaboration in advertising technology, combining Virtual Minds and Smartclip to create a European alternative to US-dominated advertising platforms. These partnerships reflect industry recognition that scale and technical sophistication are necessary to compete effectively as global technology companies expand into European advertising markets.
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Timeline
- February 2024: ProSiebenSat.1 and RTL announce adtech collaboration combining Virtual Minds and Smartclip
- March 2025: RTL AdAlliance launches AdManager self-service platform for European video campaigns
- July 15, 2025: Smartclip announces Sidekicks agentic AI platform launch
- August 8, 2025: RTL Group reports 27.1% digital advertising revenue growth to €230 million in H1 2025
- September 2, 2025: Ad Alliance partners with Utiq for cookieless targeting across RTL Deutschland properties
- September 10, 2025: Adobe launches Experience Platform Agent Orchestrator for agentic AI
- October 1, 2025: LiveRamp introduces agentic orchestration enabling AI agents to access data collaboration tools
- October 15, 2025: Ad Context Protocol launches unified interface for AI-powered advertising automation
- October 16, 2025: RTL Technology announces completion of dedicated AI infrastructure for Sidekicks platform
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Summary
Who: RTL Technology, the technical division of RTL Deutschland, developed the infrastructure. Frank Penning serves as Chief Information Officer at RTL Deutschland and Managing Director of RTL Technology. The system supports Smartclip, RTL Group's advertising technology subsidiary, and its Sidekicks platform created with subsidiary Realytics. Thomas Servatius holds the position of Co-CEO at Smartclip, while Guillaume Belmas serves as CEO of Realytics.
What: RTL Technology developed and now hosts a standalone, high-performance server cluster specifically designed to power the Sidekicks agentic AI platform. The infrastructure includes advanced cooling systems and secure, isolated connections. The server cluster operates independently from RTL Deutschland's main operational systems to prevent impact on existing media services. The system enables AI agents to operate autonomously for campaign management, cross-media planning and workflow automation without external cloud dependencies.
When: RTL Deutschland announced the infrastructure completion on October 16, 2025. The development followed Smartclip's July 15, 2025 announcement of the Sidekicks platform. RTL Technology designed and built the system over several months in close coordination with Smartclip and Realytics teams. Pilot integration programs with RTL Deutschland and Ad Alliance are currently under evaluation.
Where: RTL Technology hosts the infrastructure in Germany, where RTL Deutschland operates as the Group's largest business unit. Smartclip maintains headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. The infrastructure supports operations across RTL Group's European properties, including television channels, streaming services, radio stations and digital platforms in Germany, France, Hungary and Luxembourg. The system enables secure processing while keeping all data within RTL's controlled infrastructure rather than external cloud environments.
Why: The dedicated infrastructure addresses the complexity of implementing reliable generative AI in business environments. The system maintains proprietary business knowledge within organizational boundaries, addressing concerns about sensitive information exposure to external AI systems. The architecture ensures data privacy, reliability and scalability standards while enabling continuous AI development. The infrastructure supports RTL Deutschland's commitment to fostering innovation while maintaining operational integrity. The system positions the company to compete effectively as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates across media operations, providing advantages in automation capabilities without sacrificing control over critical systems and data.