(Dis)continuità di mercato. I servizi video online nell’economia dell’audiovisivo italiana 2012-2022

The market entry of online video services has disrupted some of the industrial practices that underpin the media industries and, most notably, broadcast TV and multichannel video distribution. While adopting a peculiar supply chain with multiple layers and intermediaries that stand between the media firm and the final consumer, streamers compete with national and transnational legacy media companies for resources such as advertising and subscriptions, defining market structures that can change dramatically from one country to another. The Italian market is an interesting case to analyse the impact of streamers, as the audiovisual scenario has traditionally been characterised by a high level of concentration over the years. Using and triangulating data from various sources (regulatory statements and reports, industry databases, company balance sheets, etc.) and adopting a data-driven approach, the paper seeks to contextualise the Italian online video services market within the broader audiovisual scenario. After defining the scope of the market and proposing a taxonomy of the players operating in Italy, the article delves into the dynamics of the market to highlight the equilibria at stake and how the industry has changed from an economic point of view over the course of the last decade.