Notes on the method

Volume, structure and evolution of the audiovisual market

1. Audiovisual market revenues are calculated based on data from various sources and estimates developed by eMedia. For television publishers’ revenues, the source is AGCom. For Theatrical, the box office returns (source: Cinetel) were added to advertising insertion investments (sources: Nielsen, AGCom). For “physical” Home Video and TVoD and EST services, the data are from Univideo, integrated with estimates from eMedia. For online advertising, in video formats (Video Display and Social Video), the estimates are developed by eMedia on IAB and AGCom data. In the absence of Netflix Service Italy Srl financial statements for the 2023 financial year (still not available to the public at the time of closing this report), the values ​​relating to the revenues of SVoD services (which are the main element of the online-pay area) are to be considered provisional. The values ​​relating to online-pay services are estimates from eMedia.
2. In the absence of the financial statements of Netflix Service Italy Srl for the 2023 financial year (still not available to the public at the time of closing this report), the values ​​relating to the revenues of SVoD services (which are the main element of the online-pay area) are to be considered provisional.
3. Due to a reworking of the market estimates and to the publication of detailed data on the production costs of single titles – previously unavailable and only estimated – for some years, the values ​​​​shown here are not equivalent with those published in previous editions of this research.

Active companies in audiovisual production

1. At the closing date of this research, not all financial statements relating to the 2023 fiscal year were publicly available and the reported value is therefore necessarily provisional.
2. For Documentaries and Video-television Animation and in general the entire TV and VOD production segment of scripted works, the values ​​are processed by eMedia on MiC – DGCA – «Data Base opere» and «Data-Base Aiuti» data (updated to August 30, 2024). The title volume computation and the attribution by calendar year (which allows the production value assessment) are carried out based on the year of the Provisional Nationality and / or the year of the first aid credit (Tax Credit or others). When possible, for TV titles, the investment year was indicated by the television operator who provided the related data. The values ​​include production costs of titles created by domestic operators in co-participation with foreign companies even with minority shares (less than 50%). At the time of the closing of this research, it was not possible to analyze the ownership shares for all titles. The dissimilarities between the data shown here and the data published by MiC – DGCA («Tutti i Numeri del Cinema e dell’Audiovisivo Italiano – Anno 2023», pp. 47 – 62) are due to the different criteria adopted for the placement of the titles in the different years, with obvious repercussions on the estimate of the production value of each year.
3. The data refers to the total of films of Italian initiative, i.e. films produced 100% with Italian capital or in majority co-production or in equal co-production.

Methodology warnings

The research and data presented in this document were drawn up between February and September 2024, developing and updating similar researches carried out between 2018 and 2023, always on behalf of APA.

With the direct support of APA, approximately 50 questionnaires were distributed to audiovisual production and distribution companies and numerous interviews were conducted with the representatives of these companies or with senior executives of television and Internet companies directly involved in audiovisual production activities and in defining the related budgets.

Databases and numerous company records and other professional documentation (industry periodicals, research reports, etc.) were consulted. Documentation produced by the DGCA (Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual) of the MIC was extremely useful.

eMedia conducted field surveys and directly consulted numerous market players, documents and databases of various origins to analyze the entire audiovisual production sector also on a volume level (size of the production value).

Inevitably, many values ​​cannot be extracted from company balance sheets that report revenues and other data of individual companies but not specific data referring to the production budgets of various titles and editorial genres. Many of the data reported are the result of estimates and elaborations based on operators’ statements.

When consulting this document, it is important to bear in mind that many of the data presented are only estimates, even provisional, produced in the absence of information processed and/or published by official sources.

eMedia has carried out numerous checks on the data reported but cannot guarantee their accuracy and reliability. Under no circumstances should those who consult this document, even in part, make strategic, commercial, or other decisions based on the data reported, which are presented here only as estimates that require further analysis and investigation.