Auditel, there are 120 million connected screens (including TV, smartphone and PC) – Corriere.it

Auditel’s challenge is reminiscent of the one entrusted to the treaty, which in 1875 in Paris, established the rules for determining internationally valid units of measurement. The treaty takes the name of the Meter Convention and has established, once and for all, a globally shared measurement system. Today, the theme is re-proposed by noting that giants such as Meta and Google have a market share of 70% of global digital spending, or by ascertaining that the US platforms that offer streaming content aim to dominate the market and move towards the conquest of Europe and of Asia.

The common trait of this scenario, illustrated in the Auditel annual report, that the big players do not accept that certified external subjects measure their traffic flows and their audience. The fear that the market, already controlled by real global digital oligopolists, could record a further and worrying consolidation of the dominant positions. An alarming prospect, he explains Andrea Imperiali, president of Auditel, illustrating the annual report to the Chamber. Auditel, moreover, by adopting an audience monitoring system which, in addition to television, measures smartphones, computers, tablets and game consoles (there are now 120 million screens in Italian homes and pockets), a body capable of ensuring transparency and independence in the collection of data. A fundamental role recalls Imperiali because audience measurement systems are crucial for the correct functioning of the media market and the digital economy. In the first place, by orienting the allocation of economic resources, they balance the competitive dynamics which register increasingly less fair conditions. Secondly – he observes – because they allow for the detection, in an independent and impartial manner, of changes in consumer behaviour, which only if correctly traced guarantee true pluralism and a complete democracy of information.

Also recalled by the Speaker of the House, Lorenzo Fontanain his speech. The explosion of digital content, by changing consumer behavior, has favored – Fontana points out – the entry of new players who compete, with the traditional players, for control of such content. In this rapidly evolving scenario, the ever more important role of audience measurement systems is confirmed. This function applies to the economic and competitive structure of the audiovisual services market and to the protection of the freedom and pluralism of information. The Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, also took part in the report. In the bills that we will present in the next few months, one will concern the enterprise of the future, the metaverse and the platforms – announces Urso -, a regulation more in tune with the new frontiers of technology is needed to guarantee true freedom of choice for users and for this serves transparency in the methodologies used by companies.