The turnover of Italian television operators is growing, but in the not too distant future (next year) the long-awaited "overtaking" will take place: internet TV, which is already very popular today with the Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney + platforms ( which arrives in Italy on March 24) will be the most widespread. It is to detect it the analysis of the TV market conducted by the Mediobanca Research Department, analyzing budgets in the period 2014-2019 and trends. Looking at the accounts, it emerges that in 2018 the "television and radio" sector in Italy recorded a turnover of 9 billion, up 1,8% on 2017: the increase concerns both free-to-air TV and pay TV but above all radio, which recorded +6,7%. The weight of the sector on the national GDP remains unchanged, equal to 0,5%, while according to Nielsen data for 2019, advertising sales decreased slightly by 0,9%.
However, 2020 could mark its recovery, for a number of reasons: big upcoming sporting events, such as the European soccer championship and the Tokyo Olympics, and above all – unfortunately – the coronavirus epidemic which is forcing many Italians indoors as a precaution, which has already caused audiences to rise by 10% in the last ten days. Looking at the individual operators, Mediobanca confirms that the bulk of the turnover, ie 90%, if shared by Rai, Mediaset and Sky. The first operator in terms of revenues, considering that it is the only one with an international dimension, is Mediaset, which has a turnover of 3,4 billion in 2018, albeit with a sharp decrease (-6,5%) compared to 2017. The performance is largely due billion in revenues achieved in Spain, where the Alfa Romeo took first place in terms of audience share.
But it is the future that holds the most interesting observations. According to ITMedia Consulting forecasts, in 2021 the BroadbandTV (Internet TV) will become the leading platform for diffusion in Italy surpassing even Digital Terrestrial and reaching 9,2 million homes compared to 5,9 million in 2019 (CAGR +25%). A goal that will see the share of the three major operators fall considerably below 90% of total national television revenues. Thanks above all to mergers, acquisitions and alliances, it is also expected that the VOD (Video on demand) market in Western Europe will exceed 2022 billion in total turnover in 10, with double-digit growth rates (+12%).
Finally, a fact: with about 4 hours of average daily consumption per person, television is the information and entertainment channel to which Italians are exposed for the longest time during the day. But even that record is faltering: the amount of time we spend each day holding a smartphone has gone from one hour and 48 minutes a day in 2015, to four hours and 8 minutes a day today. And now on smartphones there are (also) information and entertainment.
