Sky Italia leads Italy TV market
July 12, 2017
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Sky Italia continues to lead Italy’s TV market, with a 32 per cent share (down by 1.5 per cent), ahead of RAI (30 per cent), Mediaset (28 per cent), Discovery Italia (2.4 per cent) and Cairo Communication-La7 (1.7 per cent).
The annual report from Italy’s Communications Authority (AgCom) confirms a high degree of concentration in the free-to-air TV market with RAI and Mediaset accounting for over 80 per cent of the revenues. In the pay-TV market, Sky Italia dominates with a 77 per cent market share, confirming the weak position of Mediaset Premium which trails with 21 per cent.
Overall TV sector revenues increased from €7.83 billion in 2015 to €8.36 billion in 2016, reaching 2012 levels after five years of contraction. Advertising revenues are the main source of financing (over 40 per cent of the total, equal to around €3.5 billion, of which free-to-air TV accounts for 90 per cent), followed by sales of TV content (36 per cent of overall revenue, -2 per cent year-on-year), while public funds represent a significant source with 23 per cent of the total.
Pay-TV revenues are up 3 per cent, to €3.4 billion, with 90 per cent coming from pay-TV and PPV services. Advertising on pay-TV remains below €400 million, although grew by 6 per cent year-on-year.
Ultra-wideband network (speeds over 30 Mbps) coverage has grown from 41 per cent of households in 2015 to 72 per cent in 2016, but the percentage of subscribers to these services has gone from 5 per cent to 12 per cent, placing Italy only in 25th place in the EU ranking. Italy fares no better in the Internet usage ranking, where it is next to last (60 per cent of the population).