Parrot Analytics SVOD platform trend reports reveal which SVOD’s digital original series are appealing most to audiences in a market during these three months, dive deeper into how this looks for the dynamic action and adventure genre and shed light on the overall size of digital original series within the entire market.

The key questions investigated in this report:

1. Are Italian audiences demanding more linear or more digital content?

2. Which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by Italian audiences and how is this evolving?

3. In the Action and Adventure genre, which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by Italian audiences and how is this evolving?

Are Italian audiences demanding more linear or digital content?

• In Italy, 17.0% of all demand is expressed for a digital original series. The majority of audience demand, 83.0%, is expressed for shows from linear networks.

• However, the average digital original series is more effective at attracting Italian audience attention. Digital originals only make up 13.4% of all titles in this market compared to their 17.0% demand share.

• Italian audiences demand linear series slightly more when compared to the global average. The worldwide average demand share for linear titles in this period is 82.2%.

Which SVOD’s original series are most in-demand by Italian audiences?

• Netflix original series have a 61.1% demand share of all digital original series demand in the Italian market between June and August 2020.

• Italy is a strong market for Netflix. The 61.1% demand share for Netflix titles in Italy is 4.2% higher than the global average Netflix demand share of 56.9%.

• Italy is one of the roughly two dozen markets where Disney+ series are officially available; the platform launched in Italy in March 2020. This helped Disney+ digital originals have the fourth largest demand share in Italy with a 4.4% share. Globally, the platform has the sixth largest share during these three months.

The next chart shows how the demand shares for these five platforms have evolved over the past 12 months:

• Even at its lowest share of demand over the past 12 months, Netflix series never had less than half of the Italian digital original market. The lowest Netflix share is 53.7% in December 2019, the month after the global launches of Disney+ and Apple TV+. Since that point, the demand share for Netflix series has grown in most months.

• Interestingly, demand for Disney+ series surges before the official Italian launch of the platform in March 2020. The Disney+ demand share peak is 7.2% in December 2019. This indicates many Italians did not wait for the arrival of Disney+ series like The Mandalorian, which had its finale in that month.

• The demand share for Hulu original series is consistently within a few percentage points in Italy. As Hulu is a US-only platform, some Hulu series are available in Italy on local and/or global platforms, for example The Handmaid’s Tale on Timvision and Amazon Prime Video. Other series do not yet have Italian distribution.

Which SVOD’s Action and Adventure original series are demanded most by Italian audiences?

• In contrast to the overall Italian digital original market, CBS All Access series make up one of the five largest demand shares in the action and adventure genre. Highly demanded series like Star Trek: Picard helped CBS All Access originals capture 6.5% of demand in this genre, although the sci-fi action series is available in-market on Amazon Prime Video.

• Keeping with the overall digital original market trend, the 40.8% Italian demand share for Netflix in this genre is larger than the global average share of 37.2%.

• DC Universe series are the second most demanded type of action and adventure originals with a 31.1% demand share in Italy. Between June and August 2020, Stargirl is the most demanded DC Universe original with Italian audiences.

The next chart shows how the action and adventure demand shares for these five platforms have evolved over the past 12 months:

• The global arrival of Disney+ had a greater effect in this genre than in the overall Italian digital original market. In December 2019 when The Mandalorian released its finale, Disney+ peaked with a 33.2% demand share of action and adventure originals.

• Over the most recent three months, the share of demand for Netflix action and adventure originals has climbed from 32.6% in June to 48.1% in August. A significant amount of this demand increase is due to the release of The Umbrella Academy Season 2 on July 31st.

• Amazon Prime Video had a demand share increase in July 2020, going up to 10.6% of demand for action and adventure digital original series. The main driving force for this in Italy is the release of Season 2 of Hanna.

This report is intended as a high-level overview of the SVOD market in this country. To access more granular platform demand trends for specific platforms, genres, timeframes and more, contact your Parrot Analytics representative.

For more information, check out the most up-to-date Italy television industry overview.