San Marino Song Contest, the 'other Festival' starts again with Simona Ventura
On 6 March, the presenter will present the kermis that gives access to Eurovision. Managing director Sergio: 'We aim to become the tenth TV station in Italy'
There is another Festival running parallel to that of the Ariston and which, for one evening, will try to move the axis of pop music a little further afield, all the way to the Titan. The final of theSan Marino Song Contest, the event with which the small Republic chooses its representative at the Eurovision, will be staged on 6 March. At the helm will be Simona Ventura.
Moreover, the ambitions of San Marino Rtv are not residual. "We are aiming to become the tenth national network," says Roberto Sergio, general manager of San Marino Rtv as well as Rai's general manager, knowing how out of reach the goal may appear. "Our first goal," he replies, "is to be taken over by Auditel in 2027. Then will come everything else and the goal is far from unattainable'.
Of course, it will be necessary to make oneself more recognisable. The landing on channel 550 (on all platforms) for this reality that has Rai in the shareholding 50% (and a San Marino company in the other 50%) has this purpose. It is clear that recognisability also depends on content. "After the San Marino Song Contest we will announce other arrivals that will in any case join important names, such as Paolo Mieli or Dario Fabbri or even Giovanni Terzi and Simona Ventura". Revenues, 8 million last year, are expected to grow by 20% in 2026. "A far cry from the debts of five million that we have written off."
Meanwhile, at the San Marino 'Festival' there will be '20 artists in the finals: ten VIPs, who will be revealed at a press conference in Sanremo on 26 February, and ten emerging artists selected by an international call,' Sergio explains. More than 800 applications were received from dozens of countries. It will not be decided by televoting, but by a technical jury of five experts, chaired by Federica Gentile.
It is a competition, of course, but it is also positioning. 'We must get out of the misunderstanding that San Marino is in Italy: San Marino is a sovereign state,' Sergio insists. And the numbers, without Auditel, are measured in visibility: last year 'over 275 million contacts' between web, social, radio and TV.
