Sanremo 2026, ratings still down: 10.7 million viewers and 65.6% share

Thecover evening of the Festival di Sanremo obtained on Rai1, in terms of total audience, an average of 10 million 789 thousand or 65.6%. In 2025, the duets of the fourth evening of Carlo Conti's Festival were watched on average by 13 million 575 thousand viewers, equal to a 70.8% share.

The first part of the show that saw the exhibition of the 30 Big (from 9.43pm to 11.37pm) drew 14 million 39 thousand viewers with a 64.4% share, the second (from 11.42pm to 1.41am) gathered 7 million 519 thousand with 67.9%. Last year the first part of the fourth evening had gathered 16 million 700 thousand viewers with a 69.2 per cent share; the second 9 million 900 thousand with 74.1 per cent.

With a 65.6 per cent share, the covers evening of Sanremo 2026 marks the fourth best result since 1995, when Pippo Baudo's festival achieved 65.8 per cent in the fourth evening. The last three editions have done better: in 2025, Conti's festival scored 70.8% in the cover night, an all-time record; in 2024, with Amadeus, the average was 67.8%; in 2023, again with Amadeus, the cover night gathered 66.5%, a figure very close to this year's.

A total of 10.5 million watched the episode on traditional TV for a 65.2% share, while 267 thousand watched it on small screens for an 84.2% share. Prima Festival was seen by 7.7 million viewers for a 36.8% share. Sanremo Start had 12.7 million viewers for a 51.9% share. Dopofestival had 2.6 million viewers for a 58.7% share. The legitimate streams rose to 18.1 million for 122.3 million minutes watched.

Williams Di Liberatore, Rai's prime time entertainment director, says he is "very satisfied with this edition. We thank Carlo Conti because for the first time there has been a packaging of the songs that does not stop at the auditory part but extends to the visual one. We move from the 'song' to the 'moment': we are at a new frontier'.