Italian TV market slides in the face of an ailing advertising market

April 26, 2010 - PRLog -- Italian TV market experienced a mitigated growth in 2009, as the collapse of free TV revenues was offset by a rise in the pay TV market. Total Pay and Free TV revenues fell slightly, reaching €7.7 bn at the end of the year, down from €7.8 bn in 2008, according to Dataxis Intelligence’s latest market data.

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During 2009, advertising market continued to plague media companies’ top lines. The largest commercial broadcaster in the country, Mediaset, which is today controlled with a 38.6% stake by Berlusconi’s family holding company Fininvest, saw its revenues decline 8% y-o-y, down from €2.5 bn in 2008 to €2,3 bn last year. With around 50% market share, the media company had a clear impact on the overall heath of the industry, as the Italian free TV market fell 3% in 2009, totaling €4.72 bn in 2009, down from €4.87 bn a year earlier.

On the other hand, pay TV market generated €2.99 bn, with 5.6 mln subscriptions at the end of 2009. This represents a 1.7% increase in revenues and a 5.5% rise in the number of subscribers, according to Dataxis Intelligence’s figures.

New’s Corp’s Sky Italia, the leading Italian digital satellite television with 90% market share in pay TV revenues, saw its revenues rise 3%, up from €2.66 bn to €2.74 bn in 2009. A corollary of these two trends is the strong decline that hit the top lines of Sky Italia’s competitors. Fastweb, Telecom Italia and Wind suffered a 9% y-o-y decrease in Pay TV revenues.

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More details are available on Dataxis.com. Leading market research and data analysis firm  Dataxis Intelligence will soon release its 2009 worldwide annual updates of pay and free TV markets.

www.dataxisnews.com

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DATAXIS, is an international market research company that covers 4 play markets worldwide. Our online database contains detailed and up to date data on subscribers, revenues & ARPUs as well as annual forecasts on major operators and technology suppliers.