Florian Silbereisen
Is his million-dollar empire facing a crisis?
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Pop favorite Florian Silbereisen has become an integral part of the German television landscape. We reveal how successful the presenter’s TV empire really is – and what setbacks might await him.
Hardly any other person on German television is as successful in many ways as Florian Silbereisen, 42. The good-humored presenter, who also appears as an actor (“Das Traumschiff”, “Cruise into Happiness”), juror (“DSDS”) and singer (among others “Klubbb3”), has made a name for himself in recent years For years he worked with hard work and sympathy to the top of the public television shows.
Florian Silbereisen: Number 1 in the hit heaven
What began almost 25 years ago with an appearance on Carmen Nebel’s hit show is still a steep success story today. Discovered by music manager Michael Jürgens, Silbereisen took over the hit formats on MDR from Carmen Nebel in the early 2000s. To this day, the Jürgens-Silbereisen duo is a guarantee for ratings and has moderated its way into the hearts of millions of viewers with programs such as “Schlagerboom”, “Schlagerchampions”, “Festival of Folk Music” and “The Advent Festival of 100,000 Lights”.
There is rarely any headwind in the decidedly good-humoured pop world. The excitement was all the greater when Jan Böhmermann reported critically about Florian Silbereisen, Michael Jürgens and their business practices in his show “ZDF Magazin Royale” in 2022 (including the accusation of surreptitious advertising). At the beginning of November 2023, “Business Insider” published reports according to which MDR is said to have paid a total of 45 million euros for Silbereisen’s shows between 2020 and 2023. 35 million euros go to the “Feste” formats broadcast on ARD, and another 10 million go to programs on MDR.
Manager Michael Jürgens: Million dollar business with hit shows
All hit shows were produced by Silbereisen’s manager Michael Jürgens’ company Jürgens TV. An additional three million euros were paid annually for special editions of the “Feste” shows, including the presenter’s travel expenses, costumes and styling, hair and make-up artists as well as Silbereisen’s fee as the show’s presenter. According to internal documents, Silbereisen received a salary of 900,000 euros for moderating ten shows in 2021 alone.
The reports became public after speculation that the MDR might soon no longer be able to afford the guarantee of success and would have to take the red pencil. As the “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung” writes, one thinks about it specifically, only Silbereisen shows should be produced for ARD’s main program – but these would then only be shown on the first.
Silbereisen shows make the cash register ring
The four-year contract between Silbereisen, Jürgens and MDR expires at the end of 2023. The negotiations have already been postponed twice, but now they want to meet at the beginning of December. The situation is tricky for the public broadcasters: On the one hand, the shows bring in good money and important advertising money (according to DWDL around 4 million viewers, market shares around 20%), but on the other hand the costs are enormously high.
While the negotiations are still ongoing, to the delight of many Schlager fans, a new edition of the popular format “Die Schlagerchampions” was announced for January 13, 2024. According to “MZ”, a separate contract was concluded with the 42-year-old presenter and Michael Jürgens. Cost: 2 million euros. It remains to be seen whether and, if so, for how long the MDR can afford this.
Sources used: turi2.de, Central German newspaperSpoton News, dwdl.de