Research |
Study: Europe’ s Big Screen rules
RTL AdAlliance has released the
5 th edition of its yearly Living
Room Study, covering an even
wider audience with new markets
China and Hungary. The research
of RTL Group’ s international
sales house finds that the living
room dominates viewing habits:
a place where 83 % of Europeans
most often watch video content,
far ahead of the bedroom
( 46 %). In comparison with
other markets, Europe indicates
notable differences: Europe’ s
preference for the living room is
25 percentage points higher than
in the United States( 58 %).
What began as a trend among
younger viewers has now been
embraced by every generation,
the report shows. Streaming
content once associated with
mobile viewing is increasingly
shifting to television screens,
where streaming has become
widespread. Seventy-one per
cent use them at least once a
week. BVoD has grown as a first
destination on the TV set by six
percentage points since the last
edition and has reached 14 %,
while 41 % of Europeans now
watch live content through BVoD
platforms on their TVs. Linear
TV remains the top-of-mind
destination on the TV set: 48 % of
viewers tune in directly.
The contrast between Europe,
the United States, and China
reveals a distinctive media
ecosystem shaped by decades
of local broadcasting, free-toair
access, and strong cultural
proximity. Europeans turn to
global streaming platforms mainly
for on-demand content, while
live events, local programmes,
and shared viewing moments
remain rooted in linear TV. This
environment – the trust, the
consistency and the audiences
who show up and stay – is
not something a platform can
manufacture through pure scale
or spend, the study revealed.
Sixty-one per cent of the
respondents trust linear TV first
when seeing an ad, far above
social media( 33 %) and YouTube
( 40 %).
At the same time, audiences
recognise the increasing
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fragmentation of the video landscape: Audiences are splitting across platforms, attention spans are shrinking and long-form content is being carved into clips for feeds that reward speed over substance. A trend dominant in the United States and China, but less pronounced in Europe, where long-form formats remain more resilient. However, social media and television do not operate in isolation: 39 % of Europeans aged 18 to 34 watch programmes on television that they first discovered on social platforms while 67 % discuss on social media what they have seen on TV. But social media is losing its appeal for genuine connection and users start to look for shared experiences elsewhere. Seventyfour per cent of Europeans say social media has lost its ability to create real social
connections, the highest level among the regions studied( 72 % in the United States, 59 % in China).
Stéphane Coruble, CEO at RTL AdAlliance, says:“ The living room is not losing ground in Europe; it is gaining relevance. Europeans watch video on fewer screens, spend longer with what they choose, and protect formats that other regions have already fragmented. The contrast against markets such as the US and China is striking, and it points in the same direction: what Europe has built around its main screen has no equivalent anywhere else in the world.
Our fifth RTL AdAlliance The Living Room Study goes deeper than ever, covering the main streaming platform in each market. It highlights collaboration as our competitive advantage, ensuring advertisers continue to have access to trusted and
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transparent environments across
European media. Cross-market
partnerships, technological
alignment, smarter measurement,
and shared innovation will define
the next era of Total Video.”
Digital ad spend surges in Italy
The Italian advertising market
in 2025 is becoming increasingly
dominated by digital platforms,
even as traditional media like TV
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and radio show resilience.
According to Nielsen data
compiled by Italian broadcastng
association Confindustria Radio
TV( CRTV). the“ extended” digital
market( including Search, Social,
and OTTs) is projected to reach
€ 9.6 billion in investments,
accounting for 45 % of the total
extended market. In contrast,
traditional media will see € 5.8
billion in investments, a decrease
from the previous year. This
creates a € 3.8 billion gap, largely
driven by the revenue of major
global digital operators.
Within traditional media,
TV still holds a significant share
at € 3.8 billion, a 1.8 per cent
decrease but still higher than
pre-pandemic levels. Radio is
proving to be the most dynamic
traditional medium, growing by
1.8 per cent to € 415 million.
However, growth in the digital
sector is almost entirely due to
Over-The-Top( OTT) platforms,
which now account for the
majority of digital ad spending,
consolidating digital’ s leadership
with € 4.3 billion. This creates
a“ two-speed system” where
traditional media are holding
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their own but losing competitive
ground to global digital platforms
that lack a similar physical
presence in Italy.
Over the past decade( 2016 –
2025), the market’ s € 1.1 billion
growth has been exclusively
due to a 70.9 % surge in digital
revenues, while traditional media
contracted by 8.9 %.
The CRTV report is based on
Nielsen data and includes digital
estimates.
France: Piracy down, but sports sector still hit hard
Illegal streaming and
downloading of sports and
entertainment content declined
slightly in France in 2025, despite
the progressive rise of new ways
of piracy through VPNs and IPTV,
according to a report from Arcom.
The French TV and digital
regulatory body noted a 4 % yearon-year
decrease in viewership for
illegal streams, and this decline
reached 34 % between 2021 and
2025 owing to the strength of the
battle against piracy. However,
it still represented a loss of
€ 1.5 billion for the sector and
broadcasters, including € 300
million for sports specifically.
The illegal broadcasting of
sports via IPTV or VPNs has
grown rapidly and, since 2022,
complaints received by Arcom
have resulted in the blocking of
12,606 domain names linked to
unauthorised sporting events
broadcasts. Half of them have
been achieved in 2025, which is
a 71 per cent increase compared
to 2024.
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