According to Omdia research, over-the-top (OTT) media revenue in Italy surpassed pay TV for the first time in 2022, thanks largely to DAZN.
Although OTT video subscriptions experienced a decline, with 4.6 million new customers in 2021 and three million in 2022, revenue continued to climb.
In 2021, OTT profits increased by $670m, while last year’s profits increased by $831m. As a result, revenue hit an all-time high of $2.4bn by the end of 2022, with many Italians favouring OTT services over pay TV.
An over-the-top media service bypasses cable, broadcast and satellite television platforms, using the internet to provide media directly to viewers.
Sports streaming service DAZN, one of the world’s biggest OTT operators, acquired Italy’s Serie A rights in April 2021. Consequently, the platform enjoyed a sizeable rise in subscriptions, taking on two million new customers in 2021 and 553,000 in 2022.
Although DAZN was forced to increase the cost of its subscriptions from €9.99 to €29.99 per month due to the giant cost of acquiring the rights, OTT numbers continued to soar.
By contrast, the pay TV market in Italy declined for a third straight year in 2022. With Sky Italia losing 302,000 subscriptions last year, revenue decreased by 3.5% to $2bn.
In addition to the rise of DAZN, other OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ continue to grow in popularity.
Earlier this year, Prime Video agreed a €110m-per-season deal with UEFA to retain its first pick rights for Champions League coverage in Italy, reaching an agreement that will run until the conclusion of the 2026-27 campaign.
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