Murder, Mayhem & Meh: German TV Ratings Recap for April 30th

It was a slow Wednesday night in Germany, but murder and mayhem managed to stir things up—on TV, of course. Das Erste kicked things off with the new true-crime miniseries “Mord auf dem Inka-Pfad” («Murder on the Inca Trail»). The result? A strong start with 3.56 and 3.34 million viewers for the first two episodes. That’s a market share of 19.2% and 17.6%—not bad for midweek TV.

But What About the Young Crowd?

Ah, Gen Z. So picky. The show didn’t exactly slay with the under-50 demo—only 5.3% and 4.6% tuned in. That’s about 160,000 and 150,000 viewers aged 14–49. Ouch.

Meanwhile, the big winner of the night wasn’t a drama, a thriller, or a cooking show—it was the good ol’ 8 PM Tagesschau. With 4.19 million viewers and a whopping 27.0% share in the coveted 14–49 demo, the news still rules supreme. Who said headlines were boring?

📺 Watch Tagesschau here: https://www.tagesschau.de

ZDF Plays It Safe (and Wins)

Instead of airing Terra X – Wettlauf um die Welt (which got exiled to ZDFneo), ZDF opted for a rerun: “Marie Brand und der Tote im Trikot”. Surprisingly, it worked. The rerun pulled in 2.94 million viewers and 15.7% market share. However, again, the younger audience seemed… elsewhere. Only 4.3% watched. Oof.

Joko & Klaas vs. Everyone Else

ProSieben’s “Joko & Klaas gegen ProSieben” absolutely crushed it in the youth demographic with a juicy 17.1% share. And all it took was 530,000 viewers aged 14–49. Overall viewership? Just 880,000, but hey—quality over quantity, right?

🎬 Official site: https://www.prosieben.de/tv/joko-klaas-gegen-prosieben

Stefan Raab: Not Winning Millions… Or Viewers

Stefan Raab’s special episode of “Du gewinnst hier nicht die Million” (You’re Not Winning That Million Here) danced into May and straight into a disaster. With just 720,000 viewers, it hit a historic low. Even among the youth, it only managed 7.2% market share. The Raab magic? Fading fast.

Sat.1 vs. Kabel Eins: The Microwave Meal Battle

Sat.1 tried its luck with “Fertiggerichte-Check!” starring Stefano Zarrella. But only 650,000 tuned in, and the show scored 7.0% in the young demographic.

Surprise twist: Kabel Eins beat its big sibling! The action thriller “Contraband” attracted 730,000 viewers and 7.2% share among the youth. Looks like Mark Wahlberg > microwave lasagna.

🍿 Contraband trailer: YouTube link (working)

And the Rest? Meh.

VOX’s new docuseries “Doc Caro – Leben hautnah” struggled with just 550,000 viewers and a 5.1% youth share.
RTL Zwei’s rerun of “Retourenjäger” did no better: 440,000 total viewers, also 5.1% in the demo.

Final Thoughts

In the battle of German TV, murder won the ratings, news stayed king, and Raab may want to consider a vacation. Again.
Looking ahead, it’s clear: True crime is alive and well—but maybe someone should call an ambulance for Stefan’s audience numbers.