Italy’s content investment fell 7.4% in 2025, APA says

Daniel Okafor

Investment in content production destined for Italy’s film, television and streaming industries fell 7.4% to €2 billion ($2.24 billion) in 2025, according to APA’s market report.

The year-on-year fall hit scripted production hardest. APA linked it to uncertainty over government support for domestic tax credits and the continuing shift from linear television to streaming.

APA, the Italian television producers’ association, issued the report on Wednesday during MIA, the Rome market for international television series, animation, feature films and documentaries.

What held back domestic production?

APA described a forced slowdown after a protracted growth spurt for Italian producers. The association said Italy’s right-wing government dithered over regulatory changes to tax incentives for domestic film and television production.

Those domestic delays did not affect Italy’s international production rebates, which remained firmly in place.

APA said: “This situation hinders producers’ ability to plan, increases financial burdens, and shrinks profit margins.”

It added: “It negatively impacts all companies — especially smaller ones — by straining liquidity and limiting their capacity for future investment.”

Some relief is now official. A new domestic tax credit is in place, and the application “window” has reopened, APA said.

Where did unscripted content grow?

APA said unscripted content (factual and entertainment formats without scripted stories) remained the backbone of Italian broadcasting, with producers delivering more than 17,000 hours of original, first-run programming in 2025.

Independent production accounted for 59% of those titles, APA reported. Streaming platforms increased their Italian unscripted output by 51% in title count and 30% in total hours, according to APA.

The factual genre grew fastest by hours, rising 36%, while the number of domestic factual titles adapted from international formats doubled, APA said.

Game shows gained ground in early-evening and prime-time slots on linear television (traditional scheduled channels), APA reported.

What happened to scripted originals?

Scripted production grew, but mostly at home. APA counted 101 Italian scripted originals for the current season, a 9% increase from 2024.

Growth came primarily through 74 smaller domestic series made for linear networks, which APA said did not tend to travel internationally. Italian originals on streamers remained at 27, unchanged from 2024, with most described as “local for local.”

APA said Italian scripted content continued to reach broad and demographically diverse audiences.

Lux Vide’s “Sandokan,” a modern adaptation of Italian author Emilio Salgari’s classic pirate books, averaged more than 4.6 million viewers per episode. BiBiFilm’s “La Preside,” about a feisty female school principal in a crime-ridden Naples neighbourhood, reached the same average.

Picomedia’s Naples-set prison drama “The Sea Beyond” remained a hit on state broadcaster RAI’s streaming and linear outlets, APA said, as did Aurora TV’s period drama “Il Paradiso delle Signore.”

APA called Netflix’s “The Monster of Florence” the standout Italian original. Directed by genre specialist Stefano Sollima, it launched from the 2025 Venice Film Festival. It drew 9.7 million global views in its first week in October 2025.

Where is the audience going?

APA reported that linear television’s combined free-to-air and pay-TV market share was steadily shrinking while global platforms continued to grow. Streaming’s share rose from 21% of the Italian market in 2020 to 43% in 2025, according to APA.

The report said streaming “is set to surpass linear television in value in the short-to-medium term.”

Microdramas (compact episodic dramas) began gaining traction in Italy, APA said, in line with global television trends. ReelShort, DramaBox, NetShort and DramaWave already ranked among the country’s top 15 entertainment apps in terms of user spend.

Fascino PGT produced the first original Italian microdrama, “Tutto in una notte,” and distributed its 54 episodes through WittyTV and social media, APA reported.

The numbers make the direction plain. APA expects streaming, already at 43% of the market, to pass linear television in value in the short-to-medium term.