Julia Faria
Research lead covering advertising and marketing
Advertising in Italy - statistics & facts
The Italian ad market has 10 billion reasons to celebrate. In 2024, advertisers were expected to dish out more than 10 billion euros in ad campaigns in Italy, crossing a significant threshold and marking a notable increase from the previous year´s value of nine billion. On its part, the share of digital in the ad spend of Europe’s fourth-largest economy hovered close to half of the total, as television’s dominance as the main advertising medium becomes a memory.
After years of being hot on the heels of television advertising, digital managed to surpass it in 2020 and is now moving towards gaining most of the country’s whole advertising pie. In 2024, digital ad spending in Italy managed to surpass five billion euros.
Italy's ad market has proven successful on the European stage, with the Milan chapter of Publicis being elected the second most creative ad agency in Europe.
Traditional media still going strong, digital basks in top spot
Digital’s rule all the same, television remains one of the most popular and widespread media in Italy, with a stable ad spend to boot. Radio and cinema ad spending made timid gains in 2024. Outdoor ad spending was also projected to rise over the following three years. Newspaper advertising’s already existing downward slope accelerated following the COVID-19 pandemic and was projected to continue in a steady fashion over the following years. A yearly decrease in print newspaper ad spending was accompanied by an equivalent gradual increase in digital news ad spending.After years of being hot on the heels of television advertising, digital managed to surpass it in 2020 and is now moving towards gaining most of the country’s whole advertising pie. In 2024, digital ad spending in Italy managed to surpass five billion euros.
Italy's ad market has proven successful on the European stage, with the Milan chapter of Publicis being elected the second most creative ad agency in Europe.
Italians still swear by their TV
Digitalization notwithstanding, the country’s fondness for TV is standing the test of time. Ads on TV were the second most common source of new brand, product, and service discovery among Italian internet users, coming right behind search engines. In a survey about online advertising carried out in 2024, almost half of the respondents stated that they were often annoyed by advertising on the internet. Almost half of Italians said they bought a product or service promoted by an influencer, while consumers aged between 18 and 24 were found to be those most prone to making a purchase following a product placement on social media.
