Rai Fiction

Rai Fiction is the Rai structure responsible for the production of TV fiction series and cartoons for the Rai generalinterest and theme-based channels.

Rai’s commitment to the promotion of Italian and European audiovisual production is also an obligation dictated by the Service Contract and one of the Company’s programming strengths in relation to its public.
Rai’s production of TV fiction series is the genre which appeals most to television audiences and the cartoons co-produced by Rai are aligned to the best international productions.
2012 was an important year for Rai’s fiction series, with regard to the results of broadcasting and the launch of new productions to broadcast in subsequent seasons.
New fiction series broadcast on Rai 1 in prime time reached the record level of 124 evenings, with almost 250 television hours. The viewing average was above 20%, with 5.5 million viewers.
The results of tv fiction series on Rai 1 are now joined by those of the specialised channel, Rai Premium, which, basing its programming throughout the whole day mainly on repeats of Rai tv fiction series, became one of the specialised channels most followed by the public in 2012.
Particularly important is the fact that fiction series, representing the essence of the public service at its best, succeeded in reaching huge audiences with programmes of great editorial value: it is no coincidence that two of the most popular titles, both receiving over 8 million viewers, were the miniseries Maria di Nazaret and the tvmovie Paolo Borsellino – i 57 giorni.

But also programmes like Mai per amore, the cycle of 4 tv-movies on the topic of violence against women, or A fari spenti nella notte on the topic of disability, La vita che corre, on the accidents that take place on Italy’s roads on Saturday nights, or the miniseries Le Olimpiadi nascoste, set a German prison camp in the Second World War, showed how Rai’s tv fiction series are characterised by large numbers of viewers and programming commitment.

Rai Fiction presented no fewer than thirteen tv series in 2012, ten of which were new while three were sequels, bearing witness to a capacity for innovation and renewal. Some new series, like Una Grande Famiglia, Che Dio ci aiuti, Il Giovane Montalbano, Questo nostro Amore and Il Restauratore, have already triggered the launch of a second season, putting the investment in research to good use and consolidating an already loyal public.

The Rai 1 fiction series re-proposed on Rai Premium joins the constant commitment towards the production of the soap Un posto al Sole, with 250 episodes a year, now in its seventeenth year, a record series also at European level, which maintains its young and attentive public in peak viewing slots.

In terms of production, 2012 was the year in which most of the fiction series due to be broadcast the following year were produced: titles include Rai classics, such as Un Medico in Famiglia (created for the first time in collaboration with the Rai tv production centre in Rome, to optimize resources) and four new tv-movies in the Commissario Montalbano series. With this in mind, it should be mentioned that Commissario Montalbano was also broadcast last season by the BBC, with significant success among viewers and critics.
From the production viewpoint, two more qualifying points deserve a mention.
The first is Rai’s decision to shoot its forthcoming fiction productions in Italy, avoiding delocalisation. This is an important decision in terms of costs, to sustain Italian markets at a difficult time and also to maintain all-Italian taste and quality.

The second was the approval of the 2013 fiction production plan by the end of 2012, with a significant reduction in average costs and an increase in the number of evenings and the extent of the offer: fiction series will also be produced for Rai 2 and the web.
This made it possible to start launching the new series immediately, avoiding that start-of-year three-month pause which had created production and product procurement difficulties in the past.

In addition to the production of fiction series, Rai Fiction also co-produces cartoons.
These are usually series, for children and for the whole family, which feed the Rai 2 children’s slot and those of the specialised channels Rai YoYo and Gulp everyday.