According to the Communications Observatory (AgCom), Rai continues to hold a dominant position in the Italian market. In prime time, Rai remains the country’s leading television broadcaster, with 8.4 million viewers (40.6% share) in Q1 2025. This represents a 2% year-on-year increase and a 1.4 percentage-point gain in share, widening the gap with its closest competitor.
A similar trend was observed across the full day, where Rai retained first place with an average of 3.4 million viewers and a 38% share.
Among its flagship channels, Rai 1 plays a key role in prime time, averaging 5.5 million viewers and a 26.8% share—up 2.3 percentage points from last year. Rai 2 also posted growth, attracting an average of 844,000 viewers (4.1% share, +0.2 percentage points). Rai 3 remained largely stable, with 1.1 million viewers and a 5.4% share (−0.1 percentage points).
Rai’s role as a public service broadcaster was also evident during major commemorations. For example, on the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Rai 5 aired a special episode of Ulisse by Alberto Angela, achieving a record prime-time result for the cultural channel with a 3% share and 392,000 viewers.
TV CONSUMPTION TRENDS
According to AgCom, average daily television viewership in Italy during Q1 2025 saw a slight decline compared to the same period in 2024, both in prime time (–1.5%) and across the entire day (–1.9%). Prime time audiences dropped by about 6.8 million viewers (–24.7%), while all-day audiences fell by 2.8 million (–24.3%). This decline reflects the ongoing contraction of traditional TV audiences, a trend only partially mitigated in recent years by major events such as the UEFA European Football Championship (June–July 2024) and the Paris Olympic Games (July–August 2024).
In the prime time slot, Rai remained the market leader with 8.4 million viewers in Q1 2025 (40.6% share), up 2% from the previous year and gaining 1.4 percentage points in share. Mediaset followed with 7.1 million average viewers (34.6% share), down 4.7% year-on-year. Warner Bros. Discovery ranked third with 1.7 million viewers (–5%), followed by Comcast/Sky with 1.4 million viewers (–5.5%). Cairo Communication/La7 closed the ranking with over 1.3 million daily viewers in the first quarter, posting an increase of around 76,000 viewers (+6.4%) compared to Q1 2024.
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