Internet trumps TV: 55.8% of Italians inform themselves online
Agcom Observatory: TV at 43.2%, trust still in traditional media (35.9% against 20%). One Italian in five avoids the news
The Internet no longer chases after television. It has already overtaken it for some time and now it is catching up. This is the clearest snapshot that comes from the second edition of the Agcom Observatory on the information system: in the first half of 2025, the Net is the first gateway to news for 55.8% of Italians, while TV drops to 43.2%. The figure, which marks a further widening of the gap after the overtaking of 2023, certifies a structural change in information behaviour.
Social networks (25.1%) and search engines (24.7%) have become the main hubs for accessing news, but within this ecosystem, traditional brands also remain alive: 30% of Italians continue to get their information through radio, television and newspaper websites and apps. This is not the end of publishers. It is their more or less forced transformation.
The point, if anything, is that consumption does not coincide with trust. On the contrary. The more Italians inform themselves online, the more they continue to trust traditional media. Radio, TV and the press garner a high level of trust in 35.9% of cases, compared to 20% for online sources. At the top of the reliability ranking is public service television, indicated by 40.5% of Italians as the most solid medium. At the bottom remain social and influencers, omnipresent in the circulation of news. but weak on the ground of credibility.
Then there is another piece of data that stings: one in five Italians say they rarely or not at all inform themselves. This is not just disinterest. It is saturation. The perception of repetitiveness of contents (22.3%), their negativity (18.1%), emotional impact (15.2%), distrust of journalists (14.6%) and excess of information (14.4%) all weigh heavily. News is perceived as repetitive, negative, anxious, excessive. Added to this is mistrust in journalists.
The divide is mainly generational. Between the ages of 14 and 24, 40.7% get their information online only. Among the over-65s, on the other hand, television remains the main source of information, even if digital is also gaining space here. It is as if the country now has two different information diets: one fast, mobile, intermittent; the other more linear, more tied to traditional rituals.
