Mediaset Italia exceeded 7.5 billion online views last year, representing a 50.3 percent market share, according to Italy’s TV measurement body Auditel.
That means the combined views of rival TV operators in Italy, including RAI, Sky, La7 and Warner Bros. Discovery, totalled 49.7 percent of market share.
Mediaset argues that the number of streams is “the most important metric” for a commercial broadcaster due to its relevance to advertisers, as each video is preceded by a pre-roll ad.
The MediaForEurope (MFE)-controlled broadcaster also noted that these figures exclude viewing of its channels on other OTT services, which feed into the “time spent” metric, whose impact on commercial revenues is “marginal”.
Nevertheless Mediaset captured 266 million hours of time spent across nine months, ahead of the public service broadcasters at approximately 227 million hours.
Italy vs Spain
With these numbers from Auditel, MFE continues to carve out an Italian stronghold for the pan-European media group. Last year the outfit claimed that Mediaset Italia was the only Italian broadcaster to see ratings growth during Q1, reporting a post-pandemic bump that continued through 2022.
As a result, Mediaset Italia’s revenues climbed from €963.7 million to €974.6 million during H1 2022. This was the mirror image of the Spanish market, where Mediaset España’s revenues slid from €423.6 million to €415.2 million over the same period.
MFE pointed to the harsh economic environment, particularly in Spain where the overall TV ad market witnessed a 5 percent downturn. The Berlusconi-owned company was then accused of ousting Mediaset España CEO Paolo Vasile after 23 years in the role, which MFE denied.
The Italian TV ad market fared better, though Q4 results remain undisclosed. In September MFE advertising executive Stefano Sala called 2022 a year of “moderate decline”, thought to imply a downward revision of the group’s full year guidance, having targeted 1 percent growth in ad revenues.
“The sentiment is that 2022 … will not be a year of consolidation of single-digit growth as previously expected,” said Sala.
