Tg1 is still there, eight o’clock in the evening, first in the Italians’ “information diet”. A domestic ritual of sorts endured with nearly 4.6 million viewers: up 2.6% on year, said the Agcom Communications Observatory.
However, in this context, there are two indications that need to be highlighted: one good and one less good. The positive side lies in the fact that between one year and the next, the hours spent by Italians in front of the main news programs between January and June increased: +0.5% in prime time (268 million hours, understood as the time dedicated by each viewer to watching the news) and +1.4% in 12-14.30 (201 million hours). What’s less good is the fact that the ritual is no more collective than before. The number of viewers has decreased. Compared to 2021, there was a decrease of 19.9% for the evening news program and 20.3% for the daytime edition.
News evening edition
Therefore, the data collected by the Authority on the TV information side credits the Rai 1 flagship led by Gian Marco Chiocci. Tg5 followed with 3.4 million viewers (-7.1% per year and -23.5% compared to 2021), TgR stopped at 2.2 million (-2.2% per year and -27.3% compared to 2021), Tg3 at 1.7 million (-1.4% and -25.4%). La7 Tg grew (1.3 million: +7.6% in one year and +6.3% in the last five years) ahead of Tg2 (1.9 million: -9.1% annually and -48% from 2021), Tg4 (623 thousand: + 23.1% and -6%) and Studio Aperto Italia 1 (543 thousand: +13.1% and -32.1%)
Today’s news
At lunch, the same script: Tg1 at 13.30 led with 3.3 million listeners (+2.4%), followed by Tg5 (-2.9%: over 2.7 million), TgR (broadcast on Rai 3), which reached 2.1 million listeners (-1.3%) and Tg 2 with 1.4 million viewers (-8.7%). Studio Aperto showed the opposite trend, slightly surpassing 1 million viewers (+3.1%), Tg 4 (+22%) and Tg La7 at 13.30 (+19.1%).
Decline in the number of TV viewers
But these are still signs in a chart dominated by declines, and look at them with a broader horizon. And this decline occurred in information TV and also TV tout court. In the first half of 2025, the average daily audience fell by 2% compared to 2024 and by 16.6% compared to 2021. In prime time, the average audience fell from 23.9 to 19.7 million (-17.9%). Rai remains in the lead with 7.7 million viewers (38.9% share), followed by Mediaset (6.8 million, 34.7%), but both are far from their past glories. Only Rai1, which grew up to 24.5%, and La7 (+5.9%) were able to fight the tide.
