Amy Watson
Research expert covering news and publishing
News consumption in Italy - statistics & facts
The way Italians get news has changed. Italy’s iconic kiosks, once a place to meet with other members of the community, buy a newspaper, and catch up with friends, are losing both sales and purpose. Meanwhile, social media is now a key source of news and information. In fact, reading news stories ranks as the most popular reason for Italians to use social networks. Unfortunately for small news business owners, recovery seems unlikely in an age where the internet is the primary source of news and information, and paying for news in general is not commonplace, either.
Although television remains a popular source of news across the country, the future of Italian news consumption lies online, particularly for younger consumers. What will become of Italy’s news kiosks will depend on any government intervention which has yet to materialize, but for this arm of the industry, as well as the Italians still fond of getting news this way, the future does not look to be a bright one.
Disappearing news kiosks and falling newspaper circulation
Only 950,000 newspapers were sold in kiosks in Italy in 2024. Over the last two decades, the number of newspaper sales from kiosks fell substantially, with sales at more than 9.5 million in 2004. Even Italy’s leading daily newspapers like Corriere della Sera have suffered when it comes to circulation, and advertisers have largely shifted their focus to social networks and digital-native platforms. Only 10 percent of Italians paid for online news each week in the last year – a blow for newspapers hoping to monetize their readers via paywalled content. Digital-native outlet Fanpage ranks as the most used online news source in Italy, with around double the share of Italians heading to Fanpage each week than to the websites of Corriere della Sera or La Repubblica.Where on social media networks are Italians getting their news?
The leading social network used for news in Italy remains Facebook, with WhatsApp and then YouTube and Instagram following in second and joint third place respectively. TikTok is less popular, with under 10 percent of surveyed Italians getting news there. Indeed, only one Italian news source features in the top 10 news publishers on TikTok in Europe – Fanpage. The latter has a growing influence on the Italian news industry and the way the country’s consumers get news, partly thanks to its presence on social media, which rivals that of more traditional outlets.Although television remains a popular source of news across the country, the future of Italian news consumption lies online, particularly for younger consumers. What will become of Italy’s news kiosks will depend on any government intervention which has yet to materialize, but for this arm of the industry, as well as the Italians still fond of getting news this way, the future does not look to be a bright one.
