Mediaset, stagione partita a rilento: in prima serata persi 450mila spettatori

Mediaset's fall-season performance slowed down, losing almost 450,000 viewers in the first evening of the season, a 5.8% decrease compared to last year. Meanwhile, Rai gained 582,000 viewers (+9.4%). Despite this, Mediaset still leads with 7.4 million viewers compared to Rai's 6.9 million. On Channel 5, the difficulty isn't just one title; it spans from the morning to the evening shows.

According to Auditel data from September 13th to October 10th, the slowdown starts with programs between 8:30 PM and 10:30 PM. Media analyst Francesco Siliato from Studio Frasi attributes the drop to a late-season preparation and audience fatigue from repetitive content. In the day, Mediaset falls further, losing nearly 98,000 viewers to 3.05 million.

Rai also sees a slight decrease to 2.73 million, losing around 48,000 viewers. The evening is where the difference lies. On Channel 5's prime time, "Caduta libera" with Max Giusti replaces "Avanti un altro!" with Paolo Bonolis, and this shift contributes to Tg5's loss of audience and weaker performance. The slowdown starts as early as 6:30 PM and continues throughout the night.

The only program to increase in the first evening is "Tu si que vales," moving from an average of 4 million in 2025 to 3.4 million in this launch. However, it's not enough to close Mediaset's gap. Signals of change are also visible on Tg5, with the evening edition losing 504,000 viewers (-13.7%) and settling at 3.18 million, below Tg1's 4.13 million.

The prime time of the progrese is a key insight, but it remains the challenge of retaining the audience on current affairs coverage. The progrese's hold isn't broken in one go: Tg1 gains just 16,000 viewers, at 4.13 million; Tg3 gains 2 (at 1.66 million), while La7 loses nearly 10,000, at 1.38 million. Rai finds a boost in sports events, regaining the evening lead with 4.17 million viewers and a 22.09% share, nearly 190,000 more.

Channel 5 loses 313,000 viewers and drops to 3.85 million, with a 20.37% share, followed by La7 (1.12 million; -5.2% audience). Channel 5 maintains the lead in average day, but only by 24,000 viewers: 1.456 million to Rai 1's 1.432 million. Channel 5 retains the leadership in median viewing, but only by 24,000 viewers: 1.456 million compared to Rai 1's 1.432 million.

According to the Studio Frasi analysis, it benefits from delayed broadcasts, as public attention prevails over direct broadcasts. For Mediaset, the good news comes from Rete 4, which gains 32,000 people throughout the day, reaching 404,000 and surpassing Rai 2 and Italia 1. Talking about publishers, behind Rai and Mediaset, Sky holds the third place in average day, with 618,000 viewers compared to Warner Bros Discovery's 599,000: the rise of Now, launched on August 2nd, is notable.

In the first evening, Wbd maintains a slight advantage (1.438 million vs. 1.426 million), but loses around 126,000 viewers. La7 declines in prime time by nearly 51,000 viewers to 1.206 million. Beyond competition, screens don't switch off. At the first hour, 22.57 million people were watching, a near-stable total. However, the "recognized" viewing (per Auditel) drops to 18.24 million (-1.8%), while the "non-recognized" viewing (accompanying Auditel since 2022) rises by 280,000 viewers (+6.9%) to 4.33 million: 19.2% of the evening's consumption.

Siliato warns against attributing these unrecognized consumptions solely to streaming platforms: there are also video games and other uses. Television remains central. For those forecasting television schedules, the challenge is staying indispensable. "The importance of the new Audicom, tasked with making the audience figures of streaming platforms transparent and comparable, as requested by Agcom, remains," concludes Siliato, "in light of their increasingly prevalent streaming activity."