In 2018, the overall print media market of national and regional newspapers was dominated by two large groups (Agcom, 2018e: 129): Gedi(la Repubblica, La Stampa, and more than a dozen regional papers) and Cairo Communication/RCS (Corriere della Sera, La Gazzetta dello Sport, and few regional papers). Gedi is the largest one, with a market share of 21.9 per cent on the basis of revenues (CR1), while Cairo Communication/RCS has a similar score of 19.1 per cent (CR2 40%). Although at a lower level, four other groups have some relevance in the print media market. Monrif (Il Resto del Carlino, La Nazione, Il Giorno, Il Telegrafo) and Caltagirone (Il Messaggero, Leggo, Il Gazzettino, Il Mattino, Corriere Adriatico, Quotidiano di Puglia) score around 7 per cent, while Il Sole 24 Ore (Il Sole 24 Ore) and Gruppo Amodei (Corriere dello Sport, Tuttosport) are around 5 per cent. Overall, the concentration ratio is moderate (CR3 higher than 0.40).
In terms of radio and television, Italy has two broadcast television platforms – terrestrial and satellite – while cable television has had no success in Italy compared with other countries. The market is dominated by free channels, with pay channels steadily growing but still marginal in terms of audience in the last two decades. Since 1984, the Italian television industry was marked by a duopoly, with more than 95 per cent of advertising revenues and more than 85 per cent of the national audience share held by the public broadcaster RAI and private one Fininvest (later Mediaset) owned by Silvio Berlusconi (Padovani, 2004: 42). A major change occurred in 2004 with respect to media market concentration when a new law (the so-called Gasparri law) redefined the ownership restriction for the television sector. This law has been largely contested since it has strengthened the previous RAI-Mediaset duopoly. It abolished cross-ownership restrictions between television and press and also created a legal basis for future privatisation of RAI (Komorek, 2013).
In 2017, the Italian broadcast television market was worth EUR 9.354 million, basically in line with previous years (see Mediobanca Research Department, 2019). Considering the main sources of income (advertising, licence fees, subscriptions, etc.), a clear picture emerges. The public broadcaster, RAI, and the two private ones, Mediaset and Sky Italy, earn a similar level of revenue, around EUR 2,500–2,800 million. Together, these operators own 95 per cent of the Italian television market, leaving only marginal shares of revenue for other broadcasters, such as Discovery Italy and La7. As noted by Mazzoleni and Splendore (2011: 8), the television market is still characterised by the traditional RAI–Mediaset duopoly, and “the entry of Sky Italia into the market via satellite broadcasting has arguably enlarged the duopoly to a ‘triopoly’”. However, while RAI, Mediaset, Discovery Italy, and La7 operate in the digital terrestrial television market, Sky Italy is mainly satellite pay-TV. This implies that these broadcasters have different audiences and consequently different relevance in the Italian public debate. In terms of audience market share, the traditional duopoly RAI–Mediaset continues, since these two broadcasters together count for more than 65 per cent, and no third competitor exists. In 2017, hence, the CR3 index was higher than 0.7, signalling weak competition and a concentrated industry (Agcom, 2018e: 118).
The radio market is less concentrated. The CR3 index was 0.59 in 2018, which means a moderate level of concentration (Agcom, 2019: 52). However, a handful of players control over 80 per cent of the radio market. In this case too, RAI and Fininvest are the two biggest players, although with much lower shares than in the television market. Considering that other relevant broadcasters (such as Gedi, RDS, and Gruppo 24ore) are highly connected with print media publishers, regardless of the moderate CR3 index, the radio market appears colonised by players who have core business in other media markets.
Looking at online platforms, no clear figures about market shares are available on online platforms and news. In 2017, established media, especially print media (e.g., la Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero, etc.) but also television news (such as TgCom24) and news agencies (e.g., Ansa) were the most appreciated by Internet users, but in top positions we also find some news outlets operating exclusively on the web, such as Citynews, Nanopress, and Fanpage (Agcom, 2018b).
