How important is the nationality of a fiction in decreeing its success? Clearly a lot, judging by the fact that currently the most popular one – in particular a TV series broadcasted by Rai1 – is firmly rooted in Italy. Apart from the truly exceptional case of “Commissioner Montalbano” (that aired another rerun of the episode “Love” still reaching a threshold of six million viewers and rating 25.6%), in recent weeks “Mentre ero via” (produced by Endemol, starring Vittoria Puccini, scripted by Ivan Cotroneo) has also collected an average of 5,109,000 viewers in three episodes, rating a great 22.3%.
The TV series “Il molo rosso” is facing a more complex route: the Spanish “El Embarcadero” – translated with an analogy to the successful “La porta rossa” – is one of the many products that testify to the “new wave” of Spanish TV shows. In fact, based on the international success of “La casa di carta”, Spain has been experiencing a true boom in titles made for OTT platforms Movistar + and Netflix. According to a CeRTA research, the new titles produced for Spanish OTT platforms in 2018 were eleven, in addition to the vast free production.
But how well do these products air? The case of “Il molo rosso” is interesting. Purchased by Rai2, it raised 1,485,000 viewers (6.3% share) with its first episode and 1,178,000 spectators (4.7%) with its second, last Wednesday. For an acquired product, and being able to enjoy the cultural similarities between Italy and Spain, the result is fairly in line with the network’s average, although it shifts Rai2 towards an unusually older audience (6% were over 55).