While the second quarterly assessment of Italy’s communication market, published by Italy’s Communications Regulatory Authority (AGCOM, Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni) has no piracy data, it still serves as a useful reference for its size and ongoing market trends. In turn, this data provides a useful reference for any piracy research for Italy or the European Union.
Based on the data processed by the Authority, the total value of the economic areas of interest of the Authority (electronic communications, free-to-air and pay television, radio, daily and periodical publishing, online advertising, correspondence services and parcel delivery) was 56.19 billion euros at the end of 2024 This represented an annual increase of 3.5% (10.6% with reference to 2020) which is reflected in a total change of 1.88 billion euros on an annual basis, and of 5.38 billion euros compared to 2020.
Between 2020 and 2024, television revenues grow, overall, by about 1.2 billion euros (from 7.64 in 2020 to 8.44 billion euros in 2024).
Analyzing the usage data of the main online platforms, in March 2025, 44 million and 558 thousand unique users surfed the net, on average each for a total of over 75 hours and 13 minutes. At the top of the ranking, the set of websites and applications that refer to ibig international players (Alphabet/Google, META/Facebook/Instagram, Amazon, Microsoft) is confirmed, followed by the platforms belonging to some publishing groups and national operators (GEDI Editorial Group, Cairo Communication/Rcs Mediagroup, Poste Italiane, Finivest/Mondadori).
In the same period of time, the value of online advertising has almost doubled, going from 4.07 billion euros estimated for 2020 to 7.46 billion euros in 2024, with the component attributable to platforms alone being valued in 2024 at about 6.36 billion euros (up 7.1% on an annual basis and 91.9% compared to the value of 2020).
Further reading
Observatory: Communication markets monitoring system, Issue No. 2/2025. Statistical report. August 2025. Autorita per le Garanzie nella Communicazione (AGCOM)
Communications Observatory 2/2025. Press release. August 7, 2025. AGCOM
