Mediobanca Research Area presents its focus on TV

The Mediobanca Research Area has analysed the financial statements of the top five Italian television groups for the 2013-17 period. These companies have an aggregate turnover of €9.4bn, a slight, 1.4% reduction on 2016 due to a decline in advertising income (down 0.5% on the previous year) and the RAI television licence fee which was cut from €100 to €90 in 2017, and is now the lowest in Europe.

Mediaset, driven by the Spanish market, continues to lead the way in terms of revenues, with total sales of €3.6bn, ahead of Sky Italia; but if only the domestic Italian market is considered, Sky ranks first with total sales up 2.1% to reach €2.8bn. The survey also reflects the improvement in industrial profitability (up 2.9 percentage points over 2013), the increase in investments (up €54bn versus 2013), and stable employment levels.

Expanding the comparison to include Europe, the United Kingdom and Italy stand out for public sector broadcasting industrial profitability, while comparison of the respective public broadcasters’ turnover sees Germany in first place with €8.5bn (€6.4bn of which generated by ARD and €2.1bn by ZDF), followed by the U.K. again (with €6.8bn), France (€3.1bn), and finally Italy/RAI (€2.6bn).

The full survey is available for download from https://www.mbres.it/