2012 was characterised by the completion of the switch-off of the analogue signal on the whole national territory. From the fourteen regions that were already ‘all digital’ at the beginning of 2012 (about 78% of the Italian population) the entire population was reached in the months of May and June with the switch-off of the remaining Southern Italian regions (Abruzzo, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicilia, where the operations were completed on the 4th of July in the province of Trapani).

As observed during previous switch-offs, the most significant effects due to the expansion and diversification of the television offering include:
•the increase in the audience which continues to show a growth trend which has witnessed levels increasingly higher than those of previous years since 2009;
•the redistribution of viewing figures among general-interest and specialized channels.

Thanks also to the presence of big sports events like the European Football Championships and the London Olympics, the records established the year before were broken in 2012: for the second year running, 10 million viewers on the full day were exceeded (almost 10.4 million average viewers compared to 10.2 million in 2011) and for the first time since the Auditel measurement system became operational, 26 million viewers were reached in prime time (compared to 25.8 million average viewers in 2011).

The general-interest channels (Rai 1, Rai 2, Rai 3, Canale 5, Italia 1, Rete 4 and La7) continue to record a downtrend, falling to a total share of 65.4% on a daily basis (-5.5 points on 2011) and to 69.7% in prime time (-4.7 points on 2011).

In this setting of growing competition, the Rai Group retains its leadership, succeeding in containing the drop in viewers to a better extent overall than its main historical rival. On the average day, Rai takes a 39.8% share (-0.4% on 2011) against Mediaset’s 33.8% (-2.5%). This result was obtained within the scope of a general increase in the number of free channels available on satellite and/or DTT. Excluding the Rai and Mediaset channels measured by Auditel, the combination of ‘Other Free Tv’ rose to 13.8% (+3.4 points compared to 2011), while ‘Other Pay Tv’ is largely stable at 9.2% (-0.1 points).

A determinant contribution to the Rai Group performance was made by the specialised channels (‘Rai Specializzate’) which obtained a total 6.2% share on the full day (with a +1.4% increase on 2011) thanks, first and foremost, to the performances of Rai Premium, Rai 4, Rai Movie and the pre-school children’s channel Rai Yoyo, all in the ranking of the top ten channels in terms of viewers in 2012.

Among all the specialised channels, that with the best result is Real Time belonging to the Discovery Group, recording an average 1.4%, followed by Rai Premium, 1.2% and Rai 4, 1.1%. Rai also presents the highest number of channels in this ranking, four compared to the three Mediaset channels (Iris, Boing and La5), to the two of Discovery (Real Time and DMax) and to the only channel of Switchover Media (Giallo).

These results confirm Rai with its completely free offering as the first digital broadcaster on the Italian market, bypassing Mediaset (5.3%), Sky (4.6%), Discovery (2.4%) Fox (1.7%), Switchover Media (1.6%) and all the other national and international competitors of the calibre of Disney, Viacom and Turner.

Rai’s general-interest channels, like those of the competition, show a physiological decline, with the three Rai channels maintaining their leadership positions in front of the respective competitors and being confirmed among the most popular national channels:
•Rai 1 with a share of 18.3% (-0.3 points on 2011) is confirmed as the most popular channel overall and retains a good margin compared to the leading Mediaset channel (with a share of 15.2%, -1.6 points on 2011, which represents the biggest decline among the general-interest channels);
•Rai 2 settles at 7.6% (-0.7 points) confirming its position as fourth national channel after Canale 5 and the other two Rai channels;
•Rai 3, despite falling to 7.7% (-0.9 points) continues to be the third national channel after the two leading Rai and Mediaset channels.

In prime time, the Rai Group maintains its market share, confirming its leadership with a 41.3% share against the 34.9% of Mediaset (-1.9 points).

During prime time, where the generalinterest channels usually concentrate their leading products, the growth of the other specialised offers seems to be more contained: the combination of ‘other Free Tv’ takes an 11.0% share (+2.4 points compared to 2011), while ‘Other Pay Tv’ remains stable at 8.7%. As regards the single channels:
•Rai 1 continues to be the most popular channel, with a 19.4% share (+0.4 on 2011) and bypasses Canale 5 by over 3 points (16.1%, -0.9). Rai 1 is also the only general-interest channel with a positive figure, achieved thanks partly to the presence of the European Football Championships and the excellent sporting result of Italy in the finals of this competition;
• Rai 2 and Rai 3 recorded similar results, with 8.4% (-1 point) and 8.3% (-0.8) shares respectively, confirming their positions as the channels with most viewers after the leading Rai and Mediaset channels.

The combined offer of the ‘Rai Specializzate’ channels reached 5.3% (a share of +1.4 points compared kto 2011) equalling Mediaset’s specialised offering (+0.8) which, in this time bracket, also benefits from the relevant contribution made by the premium football events (such as the Serie A, Champions League and the Europa League).