Total stream duration in Italy 2020, by channel

In Italy, the stream duration of video content increased significantly during the period of lockdown imposed by the SARS CoV 2 in 2020, before returning to normal level in the following months. Generalist channels saw the greatest increase: the total stream duration of Rai 1 (the first channel of the Italian national broadcaster) decreased from 2.9 million hours in mid-March to over 1.8 million hours in September 2020. In terms of number of streams, the Sky thematic channels registered the highest volumes, with Digital Fluid News channel being streamed 74.5 thousand times only in the week between 15 and 21 March 2020.

Video display modes

As far as video content is concerned, the live mode dwarfed the on demand one. Over the September 20 to September 26 week, the streaming of live videos lasted on average close to 13 minutes, while the average stream duration of on demand videos was roughly four minutes. A similar ratio was registered in the previous weeks of 2020.

Online video audience

The interest for up-to-date news regarding coronavirus (COVID-19) drove the already increasing consumption of online video. News media outlets, especially newspapers’ websites, experienced a significant growth in their online audience over March 2020. The unique users of La7 TV channel, for example, increased from two million in February 2020 to over four million as of mid-March 2020.