Key Features

Broadcast TV—long the focus of media consumption in Italy—is still strong. But most people also stream video.

• According to GlobalWebIndex, 96.8% of internet users ages 16 to 64 had watched live TV in the month prior to polling in H1 2019, with very little variation across demographic groups. Moreover, time spent with broadcast TV remained unchanged from the prior year, with a daily average of 2 hours, 18 minutes (2:18).
• Video streaming is well established in Italy, too, with penetration ranging from 92.4% among internet users ages 16 to 24, to 71.9% among the oldest polled (ages 55 to 64).
• Fewer than two-thirds of Italy’s internet users had taken advantage of other TV and video viewing options, such as catch-up or on-demand services of TV broadcasters; 52.1% said they had recorded TV shows to watch later. Younger and more affluent internet users were more likely to do so. In total, 59.4% of respondents had used a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service such as Netflix.
• Streaming video was even more widespread among internet users than social networking. But it’s important to keep this in perspective. The time spent daily with social media averaged 1:47—a full hour more than time devoted to video streaming, at 47 minutes. This may be, in part, because GlobalWebIndex includes YouTube in the category of social media, and YouTube attracts enormous audiences in Italy, as in most countries.