About 123tv

123tv

123tv (formerly 1-2-3.tv) is a German interactive teleshopping channel built around live auctions. Founded in 2004 as Germany's first auction channel and based in Grünwald near Munich, it sells products through a distinctive Dutch-auction format — prices fall live on screen until a viewer buys — reaching more than 40 million television households in Germany and Austria around the clock. Acquired by the American retailer iMedia Brands in 2021, it is the auction-driven challenger in Germany's home-shopping market.

Overview

123tv is Germany's auction channel. Where conventional teleshopping sells at fixed prices, 123tv sells primarily through live auctions in the Dutch style: a product is presented with a starting price that falls in real time, and the first viewer to buy — by phone, app, or online — secures it at the current price. Automated auctions run alongside the live shows, keeping the auction proposition on air 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The channel broadcasts from Grünwald near Munich via the Astra 19.2 degrees East satellite, on cable systems, and by live stream — reaching over 40 million German and Austrian television households. Its merchandising mix spans jewellery, fashion, beauty, home, and lifestyle products, sourced globally and shipped directly to customers' homes.

The auction format is the channel's identity: the falling price creates urgency and entertainment — shopping as a game, in which timing and nerve determine the bargain. This emotional engagement, in the company's description, is what distinguishes 123tv from conventional home-shopping channels.

History

1-2-3.tv was founded in 2004 as Germany's first auction channel, based in Grünwald near Munich. The concept — interactive television auctions — was a novelty in the German market, and the channel built its audience steadily: it reached profitability in 2009 and reported turnover of around €108 million in 2015.

In 2016, the Munich investment company Arcus Capital, together with BE Beteiligungen Fonds, acquired 1-2-3.tv from its financial investors Wellington Partners, Target Partners, and Cipio Partners — with co-founder Henning Schnepper and managing director Iris Ostermaier retaining stakes in the new operating company. The acquisition valued the channel's growth and positioned it for further expansion.

The next ownership change was international: in November 2021, the American television retailer iMedia Brands closed its acquisition of 123tv for an enterprise value of $93 million — approximately $72 million in cash plus a $21 million seller note, with earn-out potential of up to $50 million. The company's 2020 net sales had been $184 million. iMedia's rationale combined 123tv's continued disruption of German TV retailing with the potential to apply its auction technology to American digital shopping marketplaces.

The channel has since been rebranded from 1-2-3.tv to 123tv, with its online presence at 123.live. Its current ownership and operational status beyond the iMedia acquisition are not publicly confirmed in the sources reviewed.

Programming and Content

Live auctions are 123tv's programming. The daily schedule combines presenter-led live auction shows — hosts presenting products as prices fall on screen — with automated auctions that run the format without presenters. The Dutch-auction mechanic is the constant: starting prices descend in real time, and viewers buy at the moment they judge the price right.

The product range spans the categories that suit the auction format: jewellery and watches (including exclusive Invicta watch collections auctioned live from the brand's Miami headquarters in a 2022 remote broadcast that sold out in three hours), fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle. The company controls its entire value chain — from global sourcing to the interactive video point-of-sale — allowing it to offer the margins that make falling prices viable.

The entertainment value is deliberate: the auctions are designed to emotionally engage viewers, turning shopping into a live event. The format's interactivity — viewers influencing prices through their buying decisions — anticipates the live-commerce mechanics that later swept social platforms.

Coverage and Audience

123tv reaches consumers through its television network — available in more than 40 million German and Austrian television households, 24 hours a day — and through its online, mobile, and over-the-top digital platforms. The channel broadcasts via satellite (Astra 19.2 degrees East), cable, and live stream.

The channel's audience is the German home-shopping public drawn to the auction format — bargain hunters and entertainment shoppers who enjoy the game of the falling price. The format's emotional engagement produces loyal repeat viewers: auction shoppers return for the thrill as much as for the products. Detailed ratings are published by the industry's measurement bodies.

Ownership

123tv was acquired by iMedia Brands, Inc., the American television retailer, in November 2021 for an enterprise value of $93 million. Prior owners included Arcus Capital (from 2016) and the channel's founding financial investors. The company's German operations are based in Grünwald near Munich.

As a commercial broadcaster, 123tv is licensed by the German state media authorities and operates within Germany's dual broadcasting system.

The Auction Format's Appeal

123tv's Dutch-auction format exploits a psychology that fixed-price shopping cannot: the tension between greed and fear. Every viewer watching a price fall faces the same dilemma — wait for a lower price and risk losing the item, or buy now and risk overpaying. This dilemma is entertainment: it turns passive viewing into active participation, and it gives the channel a drama that conventional teleshopping, with its static prices and rehearsed pitches, cannot match.

The format also solves a trust problem. In traditional teleshopping, viewers must take the presenter's word that a price is good; in a Dutch auction, the falling price is visible proof of the discount. The viewer who buys sets the price — the market, in miniature, operating live on screen. This transparency is particularly effective for the channel's core categories: jewellery and watches, where value is contested and the auction format provides a mechanism for price discovery.

The automated auctions extend the format beyond presenter hours: algorithm-driven price descents keep the auction proposition on air around the clock, ensuring that the channel's identity — the falling price — never sleeps. Combined with the live remote broadcasts, such as the Miami watch auctions, the format has proven adaptable to both studio and location production.

iMedia Brands and the American Connection

The 2021 acquisition by iMedia Brands connected 123tv to the American television-retailing market — and revealed the strategic value of its auction technology. iMedia, operator of the ShopHQ network in the United States, saw in 123tv not just a German revenue stream ($184 million in 2020 net sales) but a technology platform: proprietary live and automated auction systems with potential application to American digital shopping marketplaces, particularly in travel and ticketing.

The synergy worked in both directions: in January 2022, 123tv broadcast live from Invicta's Miami headquarters, with host Dennis Pesch auctioning exclusive watch collections to German viewers — a transatlantic production that sold out its inventory in three hours. The broadcast demonstrated how the combined company's vendor relationships and production capabilities could serve both markets.

For 123tv, the American ownership brought scale: access to iMedia's brand portfolio, its digital advertising platform, and its American audience data. For iMedia, 123tv brought European auction expertise and a proven interactive format. The acquisition price — $93 million enterprise value — reflected a business that had grown from a 2004 startup into a significant European retailer.

Digital Presence

123tv's digital platforms — online, mobile, and OTT — extend the auction format beyond linear television, allowing viewers to participate in live and automated auctions from any device. The company's auction technology, developed for the German television market, was cited by iMedia as an asset with potential application to American digital marketplaces.

The channel's social-media channels engage the auction audience with product previews, show highlights, and live-auction events. Wikipedia lists 123.live as the channel's website — an attributed claim, as the domain could not be independently verified for this profile.

For the German-speaking audience, 123tv remains what it has been since 2004: the auction channel — shopping as a game, prices falling live, and the bargain going to the quickest buyer.