ITALY

REUTERS INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF JOURNALISM
/
ANALYSIS BY COUNTRY
ITALY
STATISTICS
61.5m
Pop
59%
Internet
Trust in the news
35% (10th/12)
Interest in news
74% (=3rd/12)
Television remains the main source of news for the bulk of the
Italian population. Public broadcaster RAI’s news bulletins (TG)
are still popular, while all-news TV channels (SKY Tg24, TgCom,
RaiNews24) are building a reputation for trusted news.10
The Italian press is highly regionalised, reflecting the country’s
history and character. With almost half of the population (47%) never
reading a newspaper,11 print readership figures continue to be very
low compared to other European countries.
The online offer is more diverse, with legacy media outlets such as
La Repubblica (29%) performing strongly and digital-born players
still fighting to find an adequate audience and sustainable business
models. With mobile internet booming in Italy, media habits are
changing fast. Many news websites are slightly decreasing in
popularity, while more people use social media and mobile apps to
access and share news.
Newspaper readership is continuing to decline and for the most
part digital subscriptions are not balancing out the loss of print
copies. Several national papers have shut down (including the
eminent L’Unità, launched in 1924 by Antonio Gramsci) and
newsrooms have continued to shrink: in the last 10 years, daily
papers have lost around 30% of their journalistic workforce.12
Despite these problems, paywalls are still not common in Italian
online media outlets which continue to rely on free news subsidised
by advertising. Native advertising formats have been introduced on
most sites, but often with no clear policies to distinguish them from
editorial content.
NB
10
According to data by Demos 2014 (www.demos.it/a01071.php).
11
According to data by Censis 2014 (www.censis.it/7?shadow_comunicato_
stampa=120995).
12
According to data by Alessandro Nova, Bocconi University, www.fleg.it/upload/
studi_allegati/Presentazione_filiera_carta_2015_A.%20Nova_ridotto.
DIGITAL NEWS REPORT 2015
TOP
BRANDS
ONLINE
Repubblica.it
29
Repubblica.it
Google News
22 News
Google
% WEEKLY USAGE
Ansa
22 Ansa
Corriere.it
19Corriere.it
/
33
TV, RADIO AND PRINT
29
Tg1, Tg2, Tg3, Tg4, Tg5
22
22
61
Tg1, Tg2, Tg3, Tg4, Tg5
TgCom24 32
TgCom24
32
Tg La731
Tg La7
19
RaiNews
30
RaiNews
18
31
30
TgCom.it
18 TgCom.it
SkyTg24
25
SkyTg24
Il Fatto Quotidiano.it
Il Fatto16Quotidiano.it
16
Ballarò
24
Ballarò
La Stampa.it
16La Stampa.it
16
La Repubblica
23
La Repubblica
23
15
15
Studio Aperto
23Aperto
Studio
23
A local newspaper
22
A local newspaper
22
Rai.TV
Rai.TV
14 Il Sole 24 ore
Il Sole 24 ore
Notizie.Libero.it
Yahoo News
14
11 Notizie.Libero.it
11
Il Corriere della Sera
Il Corriere20
della Sera
11
11
Porta a Porta
18 a Porta
Porta
Yahoo News
9 local newspaper
An online local newspaperAn online
BeppeGrillo.it
MSN
8
BeppeGrillo.it
8
MSN
20
18
9
Servizio Pubblico
15
Servizio
Pubblico
15
Piazza pulita
14 Piazza pulita
14
8
Il Sole 24 Ore
Huffington Post
7
Huffington Post
7
8 e mezzo
L’Espresso.it
7
L’Espresso.it
7
Gr1, Gr2, Gr3, Gr24
Newspapers
Broadcasters
Pure players
25
24
8
DIGITAL REACH
NEWS
32
73%
25% 51%
CROSS
PLATFORM REACH
Newspapers
Broadcasters
Facebook
55%
YouTube
25%
WhatsApp
18%
Google+
11%
Twitter
10%
* used weekly for news 82%
93%
11 Gr2, Gr3, Gr24
Gr1,
11
58%
93%
Newspapers
Broadcasters
WEEKLY
MULTMEDIA
USAGE
pay for online
news last year
25%
14%
News Video
News Audio
(4th /12)
The popularity of WhatsApp is growing year by year
in Italy, but media outlets are still reluctant to use this
channel as a distribution platform – with the exception of
La Repubblica’s newly launched breaking news service
(January 2015). According to recent data, the amount
of news shared online continues to grow.13 In the vast
majority of cases this happens through Facebook, while
Twitter and Google+ continue to play a marginal role.
13
12
8 e mezzo
TRADITIONAL
(OFFLINE) REACH
12%
TOP SOCIAL NETWORKS*
13 Il Sole 24 Ore
12
NEWS
APPLE DEVICES
VS THE REST
Other
Apple
(% NEWS USAGE)
Apple
DIGITAL
PARTICIPATION
11
Other
39% share a news story via email or
social media. Italy is 3rd out of 12 in
overall participation index.
24%
say the smartphone
is the main way of
accessing online news
9%
say the tablet is
the main way of
accessing online news
34
Smartphone
13
9
10
Tablet
According to a recent report by Human
Highway report, the number of shared news
items has boomed in the last years (in 2011,
100,000 news items per day were shared; in
2014, more than 400,000), www.slideshare.net/
SitoH2/201406-social-new-media-in-italia.