Italy set for video entertainment surge in 2021

Optimism Ahead in Italy’s Video Entertainment Sector

Italy’s video entertainment market is poised for vigorous growth next year, despite a challenging 2020, according to a recent video insights report from Futuresource Consulting. This upsurge will be driven by SVoD entering a new growth phase, as only one in four Italian households will subscribe to an SVoD service by the end of 2020, providing a ready market for further expansion.

“Although our figures show that the total Italian video entertainment sector will decline this year to €3.5 billion, the road ahead is paved with promise,” says Tristan Veale, Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “From 2021, we’re going to see a forceful upturn, culminating in consumer spend of approaching €5 billion in 2024.”

Stay-at-home orders and new service offerings, particularly Disney+, are the key catalysts for Italy’s SVoD’s momentum in 2020, although the relentless rise of sector stalwarts Netflix and Amazon Prime remains central to the sector’s success. By the end of 2020, Futuresource anticipates Netflix and Amazon Prime combined subscriptions to approach nine million.

“On track to reach almost 11 million subscriptions in 2020, SVoD is only just beginning to accelerate,” says Veale. “From a projected €522 million in consumer spend this year, Futuresource expects the market to triple, achieving more than €1.5 billon by 2024 and accounting for more than one third of total video entertainment spend.”

In particular, Amazon Prime’s popularity in Italy has increased due to social distancing and lockdown measures, with free shipping and next day delivery striking a chord with consumers. This has created a ripple effect, increasing the popularity of Amazon Prime Video streaming. In addition, the launch of Amazon’s transactional video service in April, which is already driving incremental growth in EST and transactional VoD, has helped transactional digital video overtake DVD and Blu-ray sales for the first time.