Discovery Italia: TV ratings stabilise, but 2025 ends in profit

Traditional television retains its editorial clout even as its revenues decline. The cinema and content distribution sectors, for their part, are already experiencing the new order brought about by streaming. Warner Bros Discovery’s Italian financial results – in what could be its final year as a ‘stand-alone’ entity before becoming part of Paramount Skydance globally – reveal two sides of the same transformation: Discovery Italia, the TV channels company, is experiencing a slowdown this year without losing profitability; Warner Bros Entertainment Italia, which manages cinema, licensing, home video and video games, is, however, bearing the cost of the transition to the new distribution model built around HBO Max. In both cases, the result remains positive nonetheless.

Traditional television, therefore, continues to prove that it can hold its own. The recently published financial statements show that Discovery Italia, which brings together the group’s TV channels – from Nove to Real Time, from Dmax to Food Network – closed 2025 with a production value of €255.8 million, down 8 per cent on the previous year. This slowdown is primarily due to advertising revenue, which fell by 4.1 per cent – partly as a result of the ‘backlash’ from the Amadeus deal, an operation that did not go quite as planned – and to a reduction in intra-group service activities. Eurosport and HBO Max remain outside the company’s scope.

Profit has fallen from 45.1 to 19.4 million euros, but this figure tells only part of the story. Another factor is the new accounting treatment for royalties, which significantly increases the weight of costs. The business model, however, remains resilient. The company, led in Italia by Alessandro Araimo, retains third place amongst Italian publishers with an 8.9 per cent market share, whilst ‘Nove’ (the group’s flagship free-to-air channel) has achieved the best result in its history. The final decision is therefore to “distribute the entire operating profit of €19,409,043, in addition to a further distribution of equity reserves totalling €200 million” to the parent company, Discovery Communications Europe.

As for Warner Bros Entertainment Italia, it is the company that brings together film distribution, content licensing, home video, video games and consumer products: activities that are currently being realigned around streaming platforms.

Revenue fell from 150.4 to 113.7 million, whilst profit dropped from 9.9 to 2.6 million euros. The decline was concentrated primarily in the licensing sector, where the new content distribution model following the launch of HBO Max in Italia has had a significant impact. The cinema division, however, has limited the damage thanks to the performance of *A Minecraft Movie* and *The Conjuring*, whilst Home Video and Games reflect markets that are now structurally weaker.