Italy: Traditional TV declines as SVoD hits new peak
May 15, 2026
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The Communications Regulatory Authority’s 2025 Observatory reveals a continued decline in traditional TV viewership in Italy. Compared to 2024, average daily ratings decreased by 2.5 per cent during prime time and 2.8 per cent for the full day.
In prime-time, Mediaset took the lead in 2025 with almost 7 million viewers (37.6 per cent share), showing a 3 per cent increase from 2024. Rai, meanwhile, saw its prime-time audience decrease by 7 per cent to 6.8 million viewers (36.4 per cent share). Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) and Comcast/Sky also experienced declines, while Cairo Communication/La7 saw a slight increase.
For the full day, Mediaset also held the top spot with 3 million viewers (37.5 per cent share), despite a small decline from 2024. Rai followed with 2.9 million viewers (35.8 per cent share), experiencing a 5.1 per cent decrease. WBD and Comcast/Sky also saw their full-day audiences shrink, while Cairo Communication/La7 bucked the trend with a 4.6 per cent increase to 437,000 viewers.
In December 2025, SVoD services reached 15.8 million unique users, a 1.8 per cent increase from December 2024. For the full year 2025, Netflix led with an average of 8.5 million unique users (+3.3 per cent), followed by Prime Video (7.2 million, +0.6 per cent), Disney+ (3.7 million, +0.9 per cent) and Now (Sky) with 1.3 million users (-2.5 per cent).
Total browsing time on SVoD platforms surged by 20.2 per cent in December 2025 compared to the previous year, reaching almost 46 million hours. Netflix, after a period of decline, saw a slight year-on-year increase in 2025 (+0.6 per cent).
Free VoD services also saw a slight increase in unique users in December 2025, reaching 35.3 million (+0.3 per cent). News Mediaset sites were the most visited free platforms with 21.4 million users, followed by RaiPlay (8.2 million) and Sky Sport (8.1 million). However, the total browsing time for free VoD services decreased by 3.3 per cent in December 2025.
Sports streaming service DAZN experienced a significant contraction, with hours spent down 37.5 per cent from 2024.
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