Total investment in Italy’s TV and film industries grew 9% in 2024 to €16.3 billion ($19 billion) across all sectors in 2024. But the output of Italian original content has dropped 12% to 658 hours during the past season, largely due to less commissions from U.S. streamers.
That is the main takeaway from a report issued by Italian TV producers’ association APA during Rome’s MIA market, which is dedicated to international TV series, animation, feature films and documentaries.
Italian free-to-air broadcasters currently account for more than 60% of the country’s scripted originals with state broadcaster RAI still firmly positioned as the main local industry driver, just as Italy’s linear channels and streamers both rely less on original titles compared with previous seasons, the report said.
It noted that there has been a 29% drop in commissions of Italian originals from streamers such as Netflix and Prime Video; a 16% drop in commissions from pay-TV outlets (mainly Sky Italia) and an 8% drop from free-to-air outlets.
Meanwhile, the Italian TV market is transitioning from a “demand-driven model to a product-driven model,” said APA chief Chiara Sbarigia, who noted this shift means it is becoming more selective about projects and giving preference to works that can travel.
During a MIA panel discussion held with Sbarigia, RAI Fiction chief Maria Pia Ammirati noted how RAI, paradoxically, has been leading the country’s digital transition with Naples-set prison drama “The Sea Beyond” (pictured above). The hit show has been playing on state broadcaster RAI’s streaming and linear outlets and, subsequently, also on Netflix Italia. Netflix Italy content VP Eleonora Andreatta underlined that “Netflix continues to invest in Italian product” and played up the alleged success of its period drama “The Law According to Lidia Poët,” Netflix’s high-end prestige series “The Leopard” and Italian original film “The Children’s Train,” “all of which made it into Netflix’s global top ten,” she said.
Prime Video Italy country manager Viktoria Wasilewski similarly pointed to Amazon’s recently launched high-end Italian original “Hotel Costiera” starring Jesse Williams, its upcoming English-language Italian original “Postcards From Italy” and Tuscany-set movie “No Place to Be Single” which “has international ambitions,” she said.
Nils Hartmann, who is EVP Sky Studios Italia, praised “the high quality level of Italy’s scripted content output, be it on linear, streaming, or pay-TV.” Hartmann also cited the fact that “over the past five years, eight out of 10 of Sky Italy’s most watched series are Italian originals,” even though the platform “still relies heavily on acquisitions.” Sky’s standout upcoming Italian original with international reach is Gucci family saga series “Game Over” directed by Gabriele Muccino, who helmed Will Smith-starrer “The Pursuit of Happyness.”