Advanced Television

Italian DTT penetration reaches 91.5%

May 16, 2012

From Branislav Pekic in Rome

According to the latest estimates by Eres from March 2012, the number of Italian DTT households (at least one receiver in the primary residence) rose to about 22.8 million.

This figure represents an increase of just under 500,000 units compared to the survey in December 2011/January 2012, taking the DTT penetration rate to 91.5 per cent. Also growing is the number of receivers in households, which reached 40.6 million, or 1.4 million more than in December 2011/January 2012.

In the first three months of the year, 2.1 million DTT receivers were sold (863,000 in January, 619,000 in February and 567,000 in March). Of the total, 68 per cent were integrated (1.4 million), 27 per cent were zappers (about 550,000) and the remaining 5 per cent MHP STB (108,000).

Overall, the number of digital boxes sold from February 2004 to March 2012 reached 60.4 million. Of these, 28.2 million are integrated and the remaining 32.2 million stand-alone.

As for ratings, the dominant platform is DTT, with 72.1 per cent of the total viewing figures, with satellite having 17.2 per cent. These figures represent a yearly growth of over 15 per cent for DTT and 8 per cent for satellite. IPTV still has a marginal share, with 0.2 per cent of total viewing time. The figures relate to April 2012 and were provided by the Studio Frasi Observatory.

Over the next two months, the last regions of Southern Italy will permanently abandon analogue TV, thus enabling Italy to complete the switchover to DTT within the first half of this year.

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