Italy: SVoD subs increase, but viewing declines
May 20, 2025
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
SVoD platforms in Italy saw 15.5 million unique users in December 2024, a rise of 453,000 from December 2023, according to data from the Communications Authority (AgCom).
Netflix, however, experienced a 5.6 per cent decline in average unique users in 2024, down to 8.2 million. Prime Video, Disney+ and Now (Sky) all saw growth, reaching 7.2 million (+7.8 per cent), 3.6 million (+2.4 per cent) and 1.4 million (+18.1 per cent) average unique users respectively.
Despite increased users, overall time spent on SVoD platforms dipped 5.3 per cent to 38 million hours in December 2024 compared to the previous year. Netflix’s total hours also decreased from 360 million in 2023 to 337 million in 2024. Conversely, Prime Video, Disney+ and Now all saw increases in total hours watched.
Free VoD services reached 35.2 million users in December 2024, down 0.5 per cent from December 2023. News Mediaset Sites, Sky TG24 and RaiPlay were the most popular free platforms. Time spent on free platforms increased, reaching nearly 27 million hours in December 2024 (+2.1 per cent), while the average time spent per user also increased by roughly 3 minutes to 46 minutes.
The regulator also reported slight overall TV viewership growth in 2024 compared to 2023, both in prime time (+0.4 per cent) and all-day (+0.03 per cent), likely due to major sporting events. However, compared to 2020, viewership is down significantly (-19.4 per cent in prime time to 4.6 million and -20 per cent all-day to 2.1 million).
In prime time, Rai led with 7.3 million viewers (38.2 per cent share), up 0.7 per cent from 2023. Mediaset followed with 6.8 million viewers (35.6 per cent share), down 2.4 per cent. Warber Bros Discovery (1.7 million, +8.3 per cent) and Cairo Communication/La 7 (1.1 million, +5.3 per cent) experienced growth, while Comcast/Sky (1.4 million, -0.3 per cent) saw a slight decline.
For daily viewership, Mediaset led with over 3 million viewers (36.9 per cent share), though down 1 per cent from 2023. Rai also surpassed 3 million viewers (36.6 per cent share) but saw a decline of 0.5 per cent. Compared to 2020, both Mediaset (-14.6 per cent) and Rai (-22.7 per cent) experienced substantial all-day viewership losses. WB/Discovery (763,000), Comcast/Sky (628,000), and Cairo Communication/La 7 (351,000) all saw increased all-day viewership in 2024.
Analysing individual channels in prime time, total viewership increased by 0.9 per cent to 13.2 million. Rai 1 (+3.8%), Rai 2 (+1.4 per cent), Italia 1 (+1.1 per cent), La 7 (+6.1 per cent), and Nove (+13.2 per cent) all saw growth, while Rai 3 (-7.4 per cent), Canale 5 (-2.7 per cent), Rete 4 (-0.9 per cent), and TV8 (-3.6 per cent) experienced declines.
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