The Italy Communications Authority has confirmed a fundamental reshaping of the nation's television landscape, with global streaming platforms now commanding nearly one-quarter of total market resources—a milestone that signals the most significant structural shift in Italian media since the satellite era.
Why This Matters
• Traditional dominance eroding: Italy's three legacy broadcasters (Rai, Sky, Mediaset) still hold 67% of the market, but streaming giants have captured 23.3% of total resources through premium content investments.
• Your viewing habits are changing the economics: Subscription revenue now represents 43.6% of all television income, overtaking traditional advertising for the first time.
• Spending follows eyeballs: Streaming platforms invested over €600 M in Italian-language content in 2026 alone, reshaping what gets produced and who produces it.
The New Power Map
Giacomo Lasorella, President of Italy's Communications Authority (Agcom), laid out the transformation in the agency's annual parliamentary report presented on July 14. The figures reveal an industry caught between legacy strength and digital disruption.
Rai maintains the largest single share at 26.6%, leveraging its public service mandate and the recently launched partnership with Disney+ that places Italian content on a global stage. Comcast/Sky follows with 22%, having pivoted aggressively to internet delivery through Sky Stream, which bundles live channels with Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, and DAZN in a single interface. Fininvest/Mediaset holds 18.5%, positioning itself to launch a unified, ad-supported streaming platform across European markets by late summer.
But the collective weight of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and DAZN—at 23.3%—now rivals any single traditional operator. Their advantage lies in what Agcom calls "premium content resources": exclusive series, live sports rights, and theatrical releases that drive subscription growth.
What This Means for Residents
For Italian households, the fragmentation translates to higher combined costs and more complex choices. Prime Video leads the streaming pack at 24% of the dedicated streaming market in Q1 2026, followed closely by Netflix at 23% and Disney+ at 19%, according to JustWatch data. Sky's NOW service commands 7%, while newer entrants like HBO Max—launched in January—already claim 1% after fewer than six months.
The practical reality: accessing Serie A football, Hollywood blockbusters, prestige Italian drama, and children's programming now requires juggling multiple subscriptions, often costing more than €50 monthly when combined. Traditional broadcasters counter this by integrating streaming services into their offerings—Sky Stream's aggregation model and Rai's partnership with Disney+ are direct responses to subscription fatigue.
Advertising revenue dynamics are also shifting. While traditional TV ad sales fell 2.9% in 2025, online advertising surged 12.2%, reaching roughly €7 B. Streaming platforms control 87.5% of that digital ad market, capturing budgets that once flowed exclusively to Rai, Mediaset, and local broadcasters.
The Economics Behind the Shift
Total Italian media revenues nudged above €12 B in 2025, down 0.6% year-over-year, according to Agcom's figures. Television alone accounted for €8.9 B, growing 0.6% and representing 74.1% of traditional media resources. That growth, however, came entirely from subscription streaming and transactional video-on-demand, not from conventional broadcast operations.
Subscription revenue now makes up 43.6% of all television income—a crossover point that reflects how Italians increasingly pay for content directly rather than consuming advertiser-supported programming. This model favors platforms with deep content libraries and exclusive rights, explaining why Amazon committed an estimated $675 M to Italian content in 2026, Netflix allocated $618 M, and even Disney+ earmarked $223 M despite its smaller local footprint.
Traditional operators are responding with their own production increases. Sky Italia spends approximately €1.2 B annually on content and rights, while Mediaset Infinity has ramped up original Italian series to compete for attention. Rai, transforming into what it calls a "Digital Media Company," now boasts nearly 23 M active RaiPlay accounts and over 7,000 catalog titles.
Strategic Pivots and Competitive Responses
Legacy broadcasters are adapting through aggregation, partnerships, and content localization. Sky Stream's internet-delivered bundle eliminates satellite dishes and consolidates competitors' apps into a single interface, betting that convenience will retain subscribers. Mediaset's forthcoming pan-European streaming platform will use Italian front-end design and German technology, maintaining country-specific content while achieving economies of scale.
Rai's April 2026 deal with Disney+ exemplifies a new pragmatism: rather than hoarding content exclusively, Rai is licensing next-day streaming rights for popular shows and archival drama to Disney+, gaining revenue and global visibility in exchange for some exclusivity. This approach mirrors strategies in Northern Europe, where public broadcasters increasingly treat streaming giants as distribution partners rather than pure competitors.
Sports rights remain a critical battleground. DAZN holds exclusive Serie A rights and recently secured the FIFA World Cup 2026 for Italy, positioning itself as essential for football fans. Sky counters with UEFA Champions League coverage, while Disney+ streams the UEFA Women's Champions League exclusively. The result: no single service offers comprehensive sports access, forcing fans to stack subscriptions or choose selectively.
Regulatory and Structural Challenges
Lasorella's report emphasized the need to update antitrust and dominance criteria, which remain anchored to print circulation and broadcast reach rather than digital consumption. The authority signaled concerns to the European Commission about AI-driven content aggregation—so-called "answer engines"—that repurpose journalistic work without adequate compensation or transparency.
Agcom has also focused on enforcement of anti-piracy measures. The Piracy Shield platform accredited 359 operators and blocked over 50,990 domain names in the reporting period, targeting illegal streams of premium sports and entertainment content that undermine legitimate subscription models.
The authority's new prominence guidelines for audiovisual services and updated rules for influencer marketing reflect efforts to impose order on a rapidly evolving ecosystem where content discovery increasingly happens through algorithms rather than channel surfing.
Looking Ahead
The trajectory is clear: streaming platforms will continue gaining share, driven by exclusive content, flexible pricing, and user experience advantages. Traditional broadcasters retain significant strengths—regulatory protections, live event rights, brand recognition, and infrastructure—but their combined dominance has slipped from 90% in 2018 to 67% today.
The next phase will likely see consolidation among smaller players and further hybrid models that blend linear and on-demand delivery. The introduction of ad-supported tiers by Netflix and the planned free tier from Disney+ suggest even streaming giants recognize subscription fatigue and the need for lower-cost entry points.
For Italian viewers, the immediate future means more content choices, higher combined costs, and greater complexity in navigating an increasingly fragmented market. Whether traditional broadcasters can stabilize their share or streaming platforms will push past the one-third mark within two years remains the central question shaping Italy's media landscape.
