Italy: 8m SVoD subs, linear viewers fall
June 13, 2019
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
An estimated 8 million Italians subscribed to VoD platforms Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Timvision, Now Tv (Sky), Infinity (Mediaset), Eurosport Player and DAZN as of January 2019.
This figure represents a growth of 18 per cent, or 1.23 million subscribers, in just six months.
The figures come from an EY study commissioned by Sky, Discovery and Fastweb, with the results published by daily Il Sole 24 Ore. Although no figures were released on individual operators, market rumours put Netflix as the leader, followed by Prime Video and DAZN.
The EY study also took into account free platforms such as Youtube, Raiplay, and Mediaset Play. It estimates the number of free users (those who watched video content online for at least 10 minutes) at 22.6 million, compared to 20.9 million in June 2018.
As a result, the total number of free and pay online viewers reached 25.8 million, equating to 71 per cent of Italian internet users.
Meanwhile, Auditel figures show that traditional TV in Italy has lost over 830,000 viewers in prime time, with negative figures for both RAI and Mediaset.