Italian TV market in 2009 worth E8.4 bn
December 1, 2009
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
At the end of 2009, the Italian TV market (TV fee, advertising, subscriptions and on demand services) will be worth a total of E8.4 billion, growing to E8.9 billion in 2011, according to the latest research from ITMedia Consulting.
DTH operator Sky Italia will become the largest broadcaster with E2.7 billion in revenues from subscriptions and advertising, but due to the recovery of the advertising industry in 2011, will be again surpassed by Mediaset.
The consultancy firm predicts that at the end of 2009 some 66 per cent of Italian households will be digital, a figure which will grow to 92 per cent in 2011, one year after the final shutdown of analogue. DTT will in 2009 become the first digital distribution platform and by 2011 will be present in 56 per cent of households. Satellite will not grow significantly, while IPTV will remain marginal, although registering a double-digit growth.
Pay-TV is already present in almost 40 per cent of the households and, driven by increased digital penetration, in 2011, will be available in nearly half of Italian households. Despite the crisis, the main source of revenue remains advertising: it will be worth E4 billion in 2011 and will constitute 46 per cent of total revenues.