The Italian audiovisual sector anthem €16.3B ($19B) in 2024, the annual APA report revealed here in Rome at the MIA Market today.
The stats show that linear and streaming TV grew 9% year-over-year, which helped the overall sector to achieve an annual expansion rate of 4.6%, more than twice Italy‘s GDP. It should be noted that the figure included video games for the first time.
Chiara Sbarigia, the President of APA, presented delegates with findings, which come from the ‘7th Report on National Audiovisual Production. The report has become an influential snapshot of the Italian screen market’s economic and employment figures and current trends, and commands a packed-out audience at the Cinema Barberini each year.
Within the figures, linear TV saw a “surge in advertising investment,” with streaming/online video growing at “double-digit” pace. On the flipside, growth in the cinema space was stagnant.
Linear TV remained the primary audiovisual medium, with a 52% share of the total sector. Adding in streamers, took the TV total to around 61%, pointing to the central role traditional broadcasters such as Rai and Mediaset continue to play in Italy.
Sbarigia compounded the findings by saying the Italian sector is no longer being led by “demand” and tax credit systems. Instead, it is becoming “product-driven,” with the market becoming more selective over projects and more general focus put on international distribution.
Production support schemes, and in particular the Italian tax credit system will “remain an essential tool to sustain demand, foster quality and promote independent production,” the report noted. However, it also claimed there remains a need for “an aid system based on rigor, efficiency, simplicity, and speed in disbursements.”
“The added worth of our production system lies in independent companies: They ensure ownership of ideas, operational flexibility and the ability to develop exportable projects,” said Sbarigia. “Investing in their financial sustainability and in clear, stable rules means strengthening the international competitiveness of Italian audiovisual production.”
‘Industry remains male dominated’
More stats from the report: The audiovisual sector employed over 124,000 professionals in 2024, including 4,747 female entrepreneurs and “a significant number of young professionals” under 35. However, the biz remains “largely male-dominated and concentrated in the Lazio region,” which is home to capital city Rome.
Sbarigia was joined by a panel comprising Maria Pia Ammirati, the Director of Rai Fiction; Daniele Cesarano, the Director of Fiction at Mediaset); Eleonora ‘Tinny’ Andreatta, Vice President, Content for Netflix Italy; Nils Hartmann Executive Vice President of Sky Studios Italia; and Viktoria Wasilewski, the Country Manager for Prime Video Italy.
They discussed how the relationship between between traditional broadcasters and global platforms was evolving, and that this meant opportunities for international co-productions, high-budget projects, and emerging formats such as short-form and branded content.
The study was carried out by APA, with the support of research institutions such as eMedia, Ce.R.T.A. –Research Center on Television and Audiovisuals, and Fondazione Symbola. MIA Market, the eleventh edition of the Italian event, runs throughout this week.
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