On March 25, 2025, an insightful event titled 'Multipolarity. Television and Streaming Towards the Mature Market' was held at the Senate Library 'Giovanni Spadolini' in Italy. Organized by Assocomunicatori and backed by AGCOM (Authority for Communications Guarantees), this occasion aimed to highlight the IT sector's evolving dynamics regarding the consumption of television and streaming services.
The 2024 edition of the Television Yearbook, which underpins the event, showcases extensive research focused on the progress of the television landscape in Italy. Massimo Scaglioni, a distinguished professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, curated the yearbook. This is the fourth edition, set to provide intricate details on the gradual transformation of audiovisual consumption and trends expected by the end of 2025. Collaborations for this compilation included several major industry players such as Auditel, APA, Sensemakers, and Comscore, amongst others.
Key figures delivered their insights during the event, underscoring the resilience and stability of Italian television. As Barbara Floridia, chair of the parliamentary commission for general direction and supervision of radiotelevision services remarked, “the data emerging from the research illustrate a transformation in public service regarding the digital world. We must learn to navigate this change by assigning new resources. It is crucial to initiate discussions on the role of public service in this digital transformation.”
Italian television stands out internationally with an average daily viewing time of three hours and twenty-four minutes, showing a remarkable increase compared to last year. Even amidst a slight decrease of 1.2% in traditional linear television consumption from September 2024 to February 2025, the digital consumption recorded a positive growth of 6%. The average daily viewer count has remained stable at 8.8 million viewers across the last three years.
This stability reflects the ability of major broadcasters to adapt to changing consumer preferences. According to Giacomo Lasorella, president of AGCOM, the media landscape is facing an overload, and the primary challenge remains ensuring high-quality standards and reliability of information sources. “The television players have carved out their space to reach diverse audiences, and the role of the regulator is to maintain market equilibrium,” he stated.
The discussion also highlighted the contribution of digital viewing patterns. Sky topped the charts with an 8.8% share of total listening, and channels like Canale5 and Rai2 recorded significant digital contributions as well, with shares of 5.7% and 5.6%, respectively. The rapid growth of streaming content on connected TVs has been unparalleled, witnessing a boost of 41% in viewing time for on-demand content between 2023 and 2024.
“The resilience of television, coupled with the increase in streaming consumption and Total Audience measurement, is confirmed as a consistent element of our national system,” stresses Scaglioni. The average viewing time per day on traditional screens is approximately four hours and nineteen minutes, reflecting the integration of diverse viewing habits across generations.
Fabrizio Angelini, CEO of Sensemakers, emphasized the homogeneity in consumption patterns across generations, stating, “In the last few months, television and digital consumption have matured, revealing signs of generational realignment.” This trend indicates that while younger viewers gravitate towards smaller screens, older demographics prefer traditional televisions, showing a 68% screen time share for individuals aged 18 and above but dipping to 41% for the 18-24 age group.
The findings are further reinforced by data revealing that by early 2025, Italy had 20.7 million connected TVs, an increase of 2.4 million compared to 2024. These connected devices accounted for a substantial reach of 34 million individuals monthly, bridging traditional television and digital platforms.
As discussed, the issue of unrecognized traffic remains critical, with figures fluctuating between 29% and 32% of the Total TV Screen share from January 2024 to February 2025. This challenges traditional metrics and underscores the need for clear statistics to substantiate viewing trends and ad efficacy across various platforms.
Marco Travaglia, president of UPA, identified the importance of measuring total audiences uniformly across platforms. He pointed out that creating a comprehensive campaign measurement standard is vital for advertisers to assess reach and effectiveness—an area where industry research continues to evolve.
In wrapping up the event, the emphasis lay in recognizing the intertwining of classical media with emerging digital frameworks, signifying the critical need for resource allocation and vigilant regulatory practices in responding to rapid changes in consumption behavior. It paints a forward-looking picture of the Italian audiovisual landscape and its capability to adapt and thrive in a multipolar environment.
As the year progresses and final results for 2025 are compiled, this paradigm encourages stakeholders to stay aligned and responsive to shifts in consumption that define Italy's unique journey within the global media marketplace.
