Privacy Policy

In the following, we would like to inform you in a comprehensible and concise manner about the collection and processing of your data and your rights in this regard.

 

  1. Data controller

    ARD Plus GmbH represented by the management
    Ludwigstraße 11
    50667 Cologne
    Phone: +49 221 650420 – 0
    E-mail: info@ardplus.de

     

  2. Data protection officer

    You can contact the data protection officer of the controller at:

    ARD Plus GmbH
    – Datenschutz –
    Ludwigstraße 11
    50667 Cologne
    Phone: +49 221 650420 – 0
    E-mail: datenschutz@ardplus.de

     

  3. General information on data processing
    1. Scope and purposes of personal data processing

      We process personal data:

      a) To fulfil contractual obligations (Art. 6 [1] lit. b GDPR):
      Data is processed for the purpose of fulfilling contracts or implementing pre-contractual measures that are carried out at your request.

      b) On the basis of a legitimate interest (Art. 6 [1] lit. f GDPR):
      Where necessary, your data will be processed beyond the above purposes to protect legitimate interests:

      • Improvement and further development of the offering
      • Measures for business management and further development
      • Ensuring IT security and IT operation of the website
      • Assertion of claims and defence in legal disputes
      • Advertising or market and opinion research, provided you have not objected to the use of your data.

       
      c) Based on your consent (Art. 6 [1] lit. a GDPR).
      If you have given us your consent to process personal data for specific purposes (e.g. sending newsletters), this consent forms the legal basis for the processing. Consent that has been given can be revoked at any time with future effect.

      In addition, we process personal data that we obtain from publicly accessible sources (e.g. press, internet) in a permissible manner or that is legitimately transmitted to us by other companies of WDR mediagroup GmbH or by other third parties, insofar as this is necessary for the provision of our services.

    2. Data deletion and storage period

      The personal data of the data subject will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose of storage ceases to apply. Data may also be stored if this is required by law, for example, or if further storage of the data is necessary for the conclusion or fulfilment of a contract.

    3. Disclosure of information (personal data) to third parties

      We use specialised service providers in some cases to process your data. They only receive from us the personal data they need for their specific activities. We carefully select our service providers and monitor them regularly. They process personal data only on our behalf and strictly in accordance with our instructions on the basis of corresponding contracts for order processing.

      Insofar as the service providers we use, who process personal data for us on our behalf and within the scope of our instructions as so-called processors in accordance with Art. 28 GDPR, are based outside the EU/EEA, we ensure that they have an adequate level of data protection before transferring data to them (e.g. adequacy decision by the EU Commission/ Conclusion of EU standard contractual clauses, etc.).

     

  4. Processing of personal data
    1. Information collected automatically when you visit our website

      You may visit our website without providing any personal information. Each time the website is accessed, the web server automatically saves a so-called server log file, which contains, among other things, the name of the requested file, your IP address, the date and time of access, the amount of data transferred and the requesting provider (access data) and documents the access. These access details are:

      • Your IP address
      • Name of the website/file accessed
      • Date and time of access
      • Amount of data transferred
      • Notification of successful retrieval
      • Browser type and version
      • Operating system used
      • Device used, including MAC address
      • Referrer URL (the previously visited page)

       
      This access data is evaluated solely for the purpose of ensuring the smooth operation of the site, improving our offering, and enabling us to detect and track attacks. This serves to safeguard our legitimate interests in the correct presentation of our offer within the framework of a balancing of interests in accordance with Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR.

    2. Data that you provide to us

      You can contact us at any time using the contact options provided (form, e-mail, telephone). The data you enter will be transmitted to us, stored and used to process your request.

      The information may be stored in a customer relationship management system or comparable inquiry organization system.

      The data will be deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected.

     

  5. Cookies / Tracking

    We use cookies, tools and similar technologies from third parties on our website. Cookies are text files that are stored in the Internet browser or by the Internet browser on the user’s terminal device. This automatically provides us with certain data, such as the IP address of the browser used and the operating system.

    A cookie usually contains the name of the domain from which the cookie data was sent, information about the age of the cookie, and an alphanumeric identifier. Cookies serve, among other things, to make our offering more user-friendly, effective and secure.
    If cookies are disabled for our website, it may not be possible to use all of the website’s functions to their full extent.

    1. Technically necessary cookies

      We use cookies that are necessary for the proper functioning and provision of our services. This refers, in particular, to the cookie for authorisation to set cookies, which concerns the settings you have made in the cookie consent tool when visiting our website or app, i.e. whether all cookie categories or only the cookie categories you have selected have been accepted.

    2. Cookies for analytical purposes – Google Analytics

      Provided you have given your consent in the cookie consent management tool, we use the Google Analytics analysis service from the third-party provider Google on our website.

      Google Analytics uses methods that enable an analysis of your use of our website/app, such as cookies. The automatically collected information about your use is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. With the help of web analytics, we can identify, for example, at what times our online offering or our content and the functions of our offerings are used most frequently. We can also identify areas that may need to be optimised. The statistics we collect enable us to improve our services and make them more interesting for users.

      Google will use the information collected on our behalf to evaluate the use of our website by users, to compile reports on activities within our online offering and, if necessary, to provide us with further services associated with the use of this online offering and the Internet. Pseudonymous user profiles can be created from the processed data.

      The legal basis for the use of Google Analytics is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR or our legitimate interest in accordance with Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR.

      You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing this data by downloading and installing the opt-out plug-in https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Google’s privacy policy can be found here: https://policies.google.com/privacy.

    3. Social Media Plugins

      Plugins from social media (e.g., LinkedIn) are used on our pages.

      When you visit our pages, the plugin will share the information that you have visited our page with your IP address, provided that you are logged into your account on the corresponding social network at the same time. It is also possible to link content from our website to your respective profile.

      We would like to point out that, as the provider of the pages, we have no definitive knowledge of the content of the data transmitted or its use by the network providers.

      If you do not want your visit to our website to be associated with your user account, please log out of your user account.

      The use of plugins is based on Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the widest possible visibility.

      Further information can be found in LinkedIn’s privacy policy: LinkedIn

    4. Changing your privacy settings

      If, when you first visited our website, you expressly consented in our cookie consent tool to the use of all or some of the cookies/tools and technologies described above on our website for analysis and advertising/marketing purposes, you can revoke your consent at any time in the cookie settings with effect for the future.

      If you use our services via our website, you can set your browser so that you are informed about the setting of cookies and only allow cookies in individual cases, that the acceptance of cookies is excluded in certain cases or in general, and that the automatic deletion of cookies is activated when you close your browser.

     

  1. Automated decision-making / profiling

    When using our website or app and when using our content, users are not subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (including profiling) that has legal effects on users or significantly affects users in a similar manner.

     

  2. Your rights

    Among other things, you have the right to request the disclosure of information about the data we have stored (about you). Furthermore, under certain circumstances, you may request the correction or deletion of your data. Furthermore, you have the right to restrict the processing of your data and the right to receive the data you have provided in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format.
    If data processing is based on your consent, you may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future. If data processing is carried out on the basis of overriding legitimate interests, you may object to this data processing if your particular situation justifies it.
    Every data subject also has the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if they believe that there has been a breach of data protection regulations.
    The supervisory authority responsible for us is:
    Rundfunkdatenschutzbeauftragte
    Stephan Schwarze
    Kantstr. 71-73
    04275 Leipzig

     

  3. Current status and amendments to this privacy policy

    This privacy policy is currently valid and was last updated in October 2025.
    Due to the further development of our website and the offers it contains, or due to changes in legal or regulatory requirements, it may become necessary to amend this privacy policy. The current privacy policy can be accessed here at any time.