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WDR to End Long‑Running Women’s Magazine 'Frau tv' Before Its 30th Year

The broadcaster cited falling linear audiences and will shift coverage of women’s issues into digital and social formats as its core strategy going forward.

Overview

  • WDR announced the end of Frau tv and said the final episode will air on Thursday, November 19, 2026 at 22:15.
  • The decision was driven by steadily declining viewers, with the show averaging a 3.4 percent market share and roughly 131,000 viewers in North Rhine‑Westphalia last year.
  • WDR said it will replace the linear magazine with digitally produced projects and social distribution, naming a menopause documentary due on October 12 and a social‑reality series for the ARD‑Mediathek planned for autumn.
  • Program director Andrea Schafarczyk thanked the editorial team and presenters Lisa Ortgies and Sabine Heinrich and stressed the move is a strategic reset rather than an end to coverage of women’s topics.
  • The change leaves no classic women’s TV magazine on German screens and fits a wider trend of public broadcasters moving resources from traditional magazines to digital formats to reach fragmented audiences.