2010 was characterised by further growth of the dissemination of DTT. At the end of the year, the all-digital regions had become ten, accounting for 65% of the Italian population.

The most significant effects of the expansion and diversification of the television offering include the increase in the television audience. 2010 was a record year for viewing figures. Over the whole day, 9.8 viewers were reached (the highest value ever recorded since the Auditel measuring system was introduced), which the average prime time audience was of 25.1 million viewers (equalling the absolute record set in 2004).
In this competitive rapidly and dramatically evolving context, characterized by the considerable increase in the number of television channels and the gradual strengthening of the specialized digital channels (terrestrial and satellite, free and pay), the Rai Group confirmed its leadership.

On an average day, Rai consolidates its share with 41.3% (+0.7% compared to 2009) compared to Mediaset's 37.6% (-1.9%).
This occurs within the scope of a general increase in the shares obtained by specialized satellite or digital terrestrial channels: excluding the Rai and Mediaset networks measured by Auditel, the totality of 'satellite TV broadcasters' rises to 9.4% (+0.2 share points on 2009), while 'Other terrestrial TV broadcasters' reach 8.5% (+1.0%).
The positive performance of the Rai Group is largely due to the performance of the specialized channels ('Rai Specializzate'), which obtain a total allday share of 3.0% (with an increase of +1.7 points compared to 2009), influenced mainly by Rai 4, Rai Premium and Rai YoYo.

This performance makes Rai Italy's second digital broadcaster, after Sky (3.2%) and ahead of Mediaset (2.4%), Fox (1.8%) and all the other Italian and international competitors such as Disney, Switchover Media, Viacom, Discovery Channel and Turner.

The results of Rai's specialized networks clearly offset the physiological decline of the three general-interest channels, with RaiUno being confirmed as the most watched channel of all (20.7% share; - 0.5% on 2009) and RaiTre at 8.5% (-0.5%). The performance of RaiDue (9.1%) has remained quite stable with respect to 2009 (-0.1%), despite the switch-over of important areas of the country; In Lombardy and Eastern Piedmont, RaiDue was visible from May to October only to owners of digital terrestrial decoders (or televisions with built-in decoders) or satellite systems.

In Prime Time the Rai Group confirms its leadership with a share of 43.7% (+0.9% on 2009) compared to Mediaset's 39.1% (-1.7% points). RaiUno is confirmed as the leading channel with a 22.4% share. The prime time slot has also been characterised by a growth in 'Other TV' to the detriment of the traditional generalinterest offering, with all 'Satellite TV' totalling an 8.5% share (+0.4 percentage points on 2009) and 'Other terrestrial TV' remaining stable at 7.3%.

Rai's results are based on the confirmation of the performances of RaiUno and RaiDue, while the slight decline of RaiTre (-0.3%) corresponds to a net increase by the 'Rai Specializzate' networks (2.4% share; +1.4 percentage points) drawn by Rai 4, Rai Premium, Rai Movie, Rai Yoyo and Rai Sport1, which are the most watched channels.

For details on the competitive setting for the near future, it is interesting to focus on viewing figures for the 'all digital' regions which, at the end of 2009, had already completed the switchover to DTT (Piedmont, Val d'Aosta, Trentino Alto Adige, Lazio, Campania and Sardinia - the lost one already having switched to digital in 2008), because these areas had a broader television offering than the rest of the country for the whole of 2010. This combination of 'all digital' regions is a sufficiently representative basin due to heterogeneity and the extent of the population involved (about 30% of the whole Italian population). The results coming from the all digital regions continue to be very positive and prove the validity of the choices made by Rai. On the average day, Rai prevails over Mediaset even more than in the other areas: Rai group reaches 43.0% (+2.9% compared with 2009) against Mediaset's 35.7% (-3.1%).
Over the 24 hours, Rai's three generalinterest channels have overtaken those of the direct competition (36.7% against 32.0%).

The 'Rai Specializzate' networks, with an offering on DTT divided over eleven channels, obtains a total share of 6.3% and place no fewer than 7 channels in the classification of the 15 most popular digital broadcasters (free and pay). Particularly evident are Rai Premium (1.3% share), Rai YoYo (1.3%) and Rai 4 (1.2%).