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Presented below is the section for Italy from The Global Television Demand Report. Enjoy!

Italy digital original genre and subgenre preferences

• With 52.6% demand share, drama is the most in-demand genre in Italy for 2021. While last year, Italy was the most drama loving market we covered, this year it has been surpassed by Spain in this report.
• In contrast, comedy captured only 12.9% of Italian audiences’ attention in 2021. This is the smallest share for that genre across all markets in this report, but it is up slightly from its 12.6% share in 2020.
• Italians had a share of demand for the documentary genre (2.8%) that was less than half of the global demand share for this genre (6.0%)

• Fantasy drama was a uniquely successful subgenre in Italy this year. It was the 6th most in-demand digital original subgenre in 2021, a higher rank than in any other market in this report.
• Italian audiences have low demand for comedies, but sitcoms in particular struggle to succeed here. As the 8th most in-demand subgenre, sitcom ranked lower in Italy than in any other market in this report.
• However, comedy drama still performed well. As the 4th most in-demand subgenre it ranked higher than in half the markets in this report. It seems that the drama-loving Italian market appreciates a dash of drama inits comedies as well.

Italy platform demand share and digital originals demand distribution

• Italy was the only market in this report where Netflix had a greater than 50% share of demand in 2021. This is down from last year when it had a 60% share.
• Italy was one of four markets in this report where the share of demand for Disney+ originals (11.8%) surpassed Amazon Prime Video’s share (9.0%).
• Italy has one of the smallest shares of demand coming from Other platforms not broken out here. Only 5.5% of demand for digital originals in 2021 was for an original series not from one of the above platform.

• As with two other market in this report (France and Spain), La Casa de Papel was the most in-demand digital original in Italy for the year with 16.61 times the average series demand.
• The Handmaid’s Tale, while popular around the world, found particular success in Italy this year where it had 11.44 times the average series demand and ranked as the 4th most in-demand digital original-higher than in any other market in this report.
• Apple TV+’s comedy, Acapulco, performed well in Italy this year. It had 3.9 times the average series demand and ranked higher here than any other market in this report.

Italy platform demand share for drama and action/adventure digital originals

• Italy was the market in this report with the largest share of demand for Netflix’s original dramas. 59.7% of demand for original dramas was for a Netflix original in Italy this year.
• Amazon has suffered the most as a result of Netflix’s dominance here. Its share of demand for original dramas (9.2%) was among the lowest of markets in this report and well below its global share of demand for dramas (13.0%).
• HBO Max dramas succeeded despite Netflix’s strength in the Italian market. 4.0% of demand for original dramas was for an HBO Max original–above the platform’s global share of demand in this genre (2.9%)

• Disney+ has strong demand for its action/adventure originals in Italy. Its originals nearly made up 50% of demand for the action/adventure genre this year, falling just short at 48.7%
• HBO Max originals made up a smaller share of demand for the action/adventure genre in Italy than in any other market in this report. The platform’s 10.7% share of demand in Italy was below its global share of demand in the genre (13.2%).
• Amazon Prime Video struggled in the action/adventure genre this year. The share of demand for its originals in Italy hit a two year low point in December when it reached 5.0%.

Top digital original series in Italy

Here are the top 20 most in-demand streaming original series in 2021 across all platforms:

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