Sanremo 2026, advertising sales at 72 million (+10%). Listeners still down

Now a question of compensation arises for Rai Pubblicità, but Poggi broadens the discourse and lets it be known that the problem will not arise: 'We have gained affinity with audiences up to the age of 54. Audiences are counted but above all they are weighed. We are giving advertisers something that is no longer on the market. We have captured the attention of young people, which today is the most difficult thing to do, as anyone can testify'. From a commercial point of view, then, 'the figure of 72 million should be considered across several media with Raiplay now weighing in at 15% and "Between Stage and City" representing an important item of our turnover'. The diffuse event 'weighs in at around 8%. TV has grown, the web has grown, even TikTok has grown. All the media we have worked on have grown, but TV remains our flagship'. With regard to the relationship between revenues and audience - and therefore the issue of compensation - Poggi emphasises: 'One rule for making advertisements on Sanremo: have a relationship with Rai Pubblicità. We have long-lasting relationships with our advertisers that span the entire year'.

Paolo Lugiato, Auditel's managing director, reported 'an average audience of 10.7 million viewers on TV (68.6% share) and 300 thousand on small screens (85%). The Primafestival did 8.2 million average listeners and 40.6% share, Sanremo Start 12 million listeners and 53.4% share. The legitimate streams were 27.8 million for a total time of 189.6 million. In 67% of cases these were clips of the singers, in 20% whole episodes and in 13% clips of guests".

For Rai's prime time entertainment director Williams Di Liberatore, "the results are evidence of a healthy Festival, which grew episode after episode, contrary to what usually happens. We are talking about an event of such magnitude that it has no analogues in Europe. We are talking about exorbitant figures. More than comparison I would speak of value. We have a festival that continues to be young with 80% of the audience in the 14-24 age group. The care for the show part is remarkable. The Festival is also thriving in the musical part, thanks to the collaboration with record companies'.

As for the management of Stefano De Martino, who from Sanremo 2027 will be flanked as musical consultant by Fabrizio Ferraguzzo, Maneskin's manager and producer, there is a risk of conflict of interest with respect to Di Liberatone emphasises: 'We are working on building a team for the choice of songs. We will certainly not leave the casting decisions to just one person'. At the moment, however, the members of this team have not yet been identified.

So what is the final verdict from a TV point of view, in terms of ratings? Success, as Rai has wanted to imply these days, or flop? Francesco Siliato, media analyst at Studio Frasi, has no doubts on this point: 'A television programme that is watched by an average of 9.6 million people for 27 and a half hours is not only a success, it is an extraordinary media event. A resilient event that has been producing similar ratings for decades. There is nothing else, and not only in Italia, that is as popular and enduring. The most sensational sporting events have similar ratings, but they sell out in a couple of hours'.

That said, it should be noted that this edition produced lower ratings than the immediately preceding editions. Compared to last year, the average of the Sanremo slot, which goes from the end of Tg1 to two in the night, between Prima Festival; Sanremo Start; Festival and Dopofestival, records - according to Studio Frasi's elaborations on Auditel data - a drop of 1.7 million, which becomes -1.8, considering the loss of 98 thousand viewers from small screens. "Reasoning about these losses," Siliato emphasises, "means going into the slow decline of traditional television and, with respect to the Festival, its ability to attract the attention of non-television audiences, something which this year was less successful than last year.

However, as Studio Frasi's data indicate, the Total TV of the five-and-a-half-hour Sanremo slot is 1.3 million less than the five evenings of 2025. In the average of the previous three weeks, the Total Tv recorded the presence of 13.3 million people: a higher value therefore that suggests that the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics were able to capture more attention than the Festival and, perhaps, to have saturated the possibility of remaining television viewers on the part of younger and less habitual consumers of television.

A final indicator for assessing the appeal of a programme is provided by the share, a percentage that varies as the TV total that constitutes its base 100 changes. On this point, however, Siliato warns: 'It is not good to compare programmes that take place in different periods or time slots, and in no way is it legitimate to compare shares of years after 2022 with those of previous years. In fact, in 2022 Auditel changed the basis of calculation, the TV total, on which to calculate the share; moreover, in the meantime, the total audience, i.e. small screen viewing, was introduced. To claim that this year's 62.8% share is better than those of all years except 1987, 1995, 1990 and 1988 is not at all correct'.

If, on the other hand, one wanted to compare this year's share with those of the years before 2022, one would have to work out the totals differently, and Auditel, thinking it necessary, gives one the chance. Studio Frasi has worked out a comparable share: 'The share of this 76th edition is 58%,' points out Siliato, 'and it is still an excellent result. It is, however, on the total audience that the difference with previous years can be seen, with a comparable audience of 9.8 million average this edition occupies 32nd position out of the 40 played in the Auditel era'.