Linear TV is growing and streaming flies, the report on ‘multiscreen’ Italy

TV is increasingly central in Italy, with the increase in audience and the time that users devote to linear TV and streaming. This is what emerges from the 4th Auditel-Censis Report whose title is, not surprisingly, Italy multiscreen: from Smart TV to screen in your pocket, this is how the country is moving towards digital. In particular, the ratings of linear TV are growing. And the number of those who connect to the internet to watch programs broadcast simultaneously on traditional television also increases (7 million and 300,000 Italians over 4 years old, 12.5% ​​of the total; in 2019 they did not reach 6 million: the increase, therefore, is 24.6%). In addition, the demand for free downloadable films from the internet is increasing. And finally, the entire segment of streaming television content, free and paid, which can be viewed from Smart TVs or other connected screens is growing. The report is based on Auditel basic research: 7 cycles of surveys (wave) on a representative sample of families and individuals living in Italy, for a total of about 20,000 annual interviews, carried out directly in homes and divided between individual interviews at family spokesperson (ie the component who answers questions about the family and individual uses) and individual interviews with a second family member (who answers questions about individual uses). “The 4th Auditel-Censis Report confirms the centrality of TV in the process of transformation of the country in a digital key. There is a growing adhesion to broadband, which is becoming more and more a basic necessity and no longer an accessory. There is also a further increase in equipment (in particular smartphones and Smart TVs) which raises the number of connected screens to the peak of about 120 million. And, finally, new and increasingly rooted viewing behaviors and new mixes in the choice of TV content are confirmed, generated by the expansion of the free and pay offer “, explains Andrea Imperiali, president of Auditel.” The renewed centrality of TV in the Italians’ everyday life also poses a challenge to rethink the role of the public service. The Authority will take the opportunity of drafting the new guidelines of the Rai Mise service contract to provide guidelines that further adapt the Rai content offer to the changed economic context and also the way of consumption “, says the president of AgCom Giacomo Lasorella during the presentation, this morning in the Senate, of the fourth Auditel Censis Report.” The logic – Lasorella observed – should be to combine the capacity of Rai to compete on the market, with the traditional tasks of carrying out a universal public service which must also aim at recovering those subjects who are i from this transformation “. The report is” the certification that generalist TV is alive and vital. First of all for the ability to provide quality information and entertainment. The pandemic crisis has contributed to this, which has forced millions of Italians at home by significantly increasing the demand for information and entertainment content “, he adds.” The ways of using television content have changed, with an ever greater possibility of creating their personal on-demand and non-linear schedules “, explained Lasorella. This is the phenomenon that” the report defines as television outside the television, or the use of content on devices other than the traditional screen “. Main evidences that emerge from the Report.1. Screens and web connections are growing. The screens inside homes are 119 million and 400,000 (+ 6.2% in the last two years), with an average of 5 screens for each family. connected families are 90.2% of the total (+ 3.6% from 2019). And those who have both a fixed and mobile connection are 59.4% (+ 6.2%). In 2021, television sets exceed the 43 million (+ 1.0% from 2019) above all due to the now overwhelming presence of Smart TVs or connected external devices: there are 15 million and 300,000 (+ 46.6% in the last two years) and are in tune with both the new methods of vision and listening (now rooted within the social body) and with the switch off made necessary by the upcoming advent of second generation digital terrestrial. Smartphones are also growing, numbering over 48 million (+ 8.9% from 2019). As well as connected PCs, which number almost 20 million, and tablets, which number 7 million and 700,000, are growing. Almost 4 million individuals, then, use the Smart TV to browse websites. And the data on individual uses that emerge from Auditel’s basic research clearly confirm how Smart TV represents an access door to the internet for over 22 million Italians, most of whom use it to activate on-demand applications. However, out of 15 million and 500,000 Smart TVs present in Italian homes, 12 million and 300,000 are actually connected: 3 million and 200,000, however, are not connected to the network, for a total of 2 million and 594,000 families who have at home at least one Smart TV, but they use it exclusively in linear mode. Why? Among them, the overwhelming majority (87.4%, for a total of 2 million and 267,000 families) does have an internet connection, but in 85.2% of cases it is only from a mobile line: a connection, therefore, more difficult to support the streaming use of the Smart TV. 2. The viewing modes change. Television remains central to the media diet of Italians, but the methods of use are changing, increasingly individualized and on demand, with the construction by each member of the family unit of its own schedule, resulting from the combination of different contents on different screens and in different places. In fact, over 4 million Italians follow linear television programming on their smartphone (+ 6.3%), while 2 million and 700,000 follow it from their PC, with a growth of 41.1% in the last year; and one million and 200,000 Italians see TV content on the tablet. In addition to those who follow linear television programs on the web, there are also those who use all the screens available to connect to the internet and build their own schedule made up of on-demand content. 3.5 million Italians download films from the Internet (+ 33.3% in the last year) and over 13 million watch non-linear content on on-demand television platforms (+ 38.2% in the period considered). Not to mention that 24 million Italians use the various platforms available on the internet, mostly for a fee (+ 48.4%), with a strong growth in the number of those who watch them frequently: they are 16 million and 600,000 and have increased 86.0% in one year. 3. A crowd of excluded and digital precarious workers. There are 2 million and 300 thousand, 9.8% of the total, the Italian families not connected. Another 7 million and 200 thousand families, 29.9% of the total, have only the mobile line. Among them, about 5 million connect only from smartphones, a device that, evidently, is not able to sufficiently support the new ways of studying, working and socializing that are emerging. Above all, these are families made up of only the elderly and families who find themselves in a condition of strong socio-economic precariousness: they often combine the lack of material resources with the lack of culture and digital skills. In addition, 27.0% of families whose members include at least one student and / or worker connect only from a mobile line and 15.6% exclusively from smartphones, while 8 million and 400 thousand Italian families, 35 , 1% of the total, has neither a PC nor a tablet at home, a share that reaches 72.8% among those on a low socio-economic level. 4. Millions of televisions to be scrapped. There are 43 million and 100 thousand televisions in Italian homes. 96.9% of households have at least one television; 9 million and 200 thousand families (38.6% of the total) have only one television; 9 million and 400,000 families (39.2%) have two televisions; 3 million and 500,000 (14.6%) have three; 1 million and 100,000, 4.6% of the total, has 4 or more televisions; finally, 575,000 families, equal to 2.4% of the total, in which 1 million and 260,000 individuals live, do not own or watch TV. Almost six million sets (13.2% of the total) can almost be considered antiques because they were purchased more than 10 years ago; then there are 12 million televisions for which it was not possible to trace the date of purchase. In summary: 27 million and 700 thousand televisions (64.2% of the total), owned by 12 million families (51.2% of the total), today are not compatible with second generation DTT because they lack the standard DVB-T2 with the new HEVC Main10 coding system. It is not enough. A good 8 million and 400 thousand cameras, owned by 3 million Italian families, equal to 12.8% of the total, do not qualify for the first step, launched on 20 October, to switch to high definition (HD). “The 4th Auditel Censis Report proves, once again, to be a precious tool for those who have the task of leading the country and for the market, especially in this phase of great development and change with all the growth opportunities deriving from the PNRR and from the extraordinary restart of Italy after the difficult months of the pandemic ”, said Imperiali on the sidelines of the presentation of the Report in the Senate.