Rai, advertising record expected in February between Sanremo and the Olympics
Spot prices up 8% for the Festival and expected takings over 70 million
February is shaping up to be the richest month of the year for RAI advertising. The combined effect of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina and the Sanremo Festival concentrates in a few weeks two appointments with high audience and investment intensity. Mouths are sealed in the company, but the expectation is for a record month: first the Games, then the Sanremo week, with offers designed to retain budgets on TV and platforms.
On the Olympic front, sales have started early and the offer, according to media centres contacted by Il Sole 24 Ore, is almost all placed. The valorisation is increasingly passing through integrated formulas that include RaiPlay and special initiatives. For the Milano Cortina games, there is no real list of individual breaks. The offer only includes modules that cover the entire event and Rai guarantees the contacts. For example: Domination module at 880 thousand euros net, with 77 million contacts 15-64 years old guaranteed, with 28 Top Spots at 15 seconds on Rai 2 and 48 Outside Breaks at 15 seconds on Rai 2 with about 10% of contacts generated by Rai Play.
All eyes, however, are evidently also on Sanremo, which is a certainty but this year also a testing ground, also because this year, precisely because of the concurrence of Milano Cortina, it falls at the end of February: from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28.
The documents submitted to the media centres show that RAI, in its forecasts, allows for a slight drop in ratings compared to the 2025 results, which were, however, well above the forecasts. Hence the realignment in the order of 3 per cent. After all, arriving even after more than two Olympic weeks may introduce some uncertainty as to how the ratings will hold up. Doubts, however, have not impacted on the supply side, with table listings rising by around 8%.
Commercially, the strategy remains unchanged and focuses mainly on short 15-second formats to maximise inventory. The price range is wide: it goes from the least valuable positions, around 15 thousand euro net, to the top passages that touch 161 thousand euro for 15 seconds ("Sanremo 2", on Tuesdays at 21.45 at the beginning or end of the break). If demand were to hold up like last year, the Festival's overall collection could go beyond 70 million euros, from last year's 65.2 million.
