Digital content
The most used paid content is gaming, responsible for half of the expenditure of Italians. The sector had gained a lot of popularity starting from 2020, with the onset of the health emergency and the consequent lockdown. To date, although slightly decreasing, it remains in first position among the most purchased contents. However, the trend is slightly down: the overall number of players has decreased.
Video entertainment, both with single purchase and by subscription, is instead the sector with the fastest growth rate. Although the number of total users is decreasing, the average time spent using content and the number of platforms to which a user subscribes has increased. The competition in the sector is very high, but the general increase in costs must also be considered which, in 2023, could lead to a reduction in expenses.
Users also spend on podcasts, eBooks and audiobooks, which however record rather limited growth: readers continue to prefer paper support. For magazines and newspapers, on the other hand, the trend is down and consumption time has decreased.
Digital content
Italians are back to preferring activities away from home; moreover, with the resumption of face-to-face work for many realities, the time spent at home has decreased. Thus the so-called "loyal users" remained, who increased their average time of use, but decreased the number of subscribers.
In general, the pandemic has brought many people closer to digital content, even those who were not familiar with it before. With the current economic climate, however, many users have reduced consumption and subscription content was among the first to suffer cuts.
On the business side, companies investing in digital experiences to offer new platforms are increasing of entertainment and increase the dissemination of content. During 2022, partnerships between smart speaker manufacturers and video and audio distribution platforms increased.