The Rai Board of Directors, meeting in Rome under the chairmanship of Marinella Soldi, examined and approved the draft financial statements as at 31 December 2023 illustrated by the CEO Roberto Sergio.
The financial statements show a consolidated net result in break-even and a net debt of 568 million euros, an improvement compared to the previous year and in any case attested to sustainable levels. The average net debt in 2023 was 328 million euros.
The 2023 management of the Rai Group, also due to the absence of costs linked to major sporting events and thanks to the continuous attention to cost optimization, was able to allocate greater resources to the strengthening and repositioning of the offer, as well as to the financing of a extraordinary redundancy incentive plan aimed at renewing digital skills, consistently with the process of evolution into a digital media company.
On the revenue front, it should be noted that advertising revenues - despite the absence of major sporting events (2022 had benefited from the collection connected to the Football World Cup in Qatar) and in the presence of the penalty deriving from the application of the further restriction on advertising crowds - they increased overall by over 22 million euros. Growth supported in particular by web revenues (+31.6%), thanks to the extraordinary performance of RaiPlay.
It should also be noted the decrease in income from ordinary fees, determined mostly by the significant increase in arrears on electricity bills related to the complexity of the socio-economic context.
The Rai Group confirms its television leadership in prime time (37.8%) and recorded a share of 37% for the entire day. Rai 1 is the first national channel both in the 24 hours (18.3%) and in prime time (20.4%), monopolizing the top positions in the rankings of the fiction, cinema and culture, science and environment genres, and is confirmed as second European channel after BBC One.
As regards the digital offer, the users who connected on average at least once a month to one of Rai's various sites or apps were 19.4 million, or 44% of the population active on the internet, with a significant increase compared to 2022 (+37%).
Also notable is the increase in the information portal RaiNews.it, which reached a monthly average of around 12.2 million unique users, placing it in 10th place in the Current Events and Global News offerings measured by Audicom.
In 2023, the percentage share of social interactions linked to RAI programming is 13% of total Publisher interactions, with a total of 204 million interactions.
The positive trend of RaiPlay continues, whose data were significantly positive in 2023 with an average of unique users per month of 11.1 million (+18% compared to the previous year) and a time spent of 2 hours and 29 minutes . In terms of genres enjoyed, fiction is still the most followed, with 50% of the total on-demand views, confirming the high quality of Rai's product.
As regards television ratings on digital devices (both via browser and app), Rai's share of TTS (Total Time Spent) was 32%; in this context, as regards use in linear mode, Rai represents 18% of the market and, in on demand mode, 44% with 445 million hours used. In the ranking of the most watched programs in on demand mode, the first title overall was Mare Fuori with 72.3 million hours watched.
As for Rai Radio, whose editorial proposal is characterized by a rich and varied offering of news, insights, service content, culture, sport and intelligent entertainment, it intercepts a mature and educated audience which has assigned it an index for 2023 overall satisfaction, measured on a scale of 1 to 10, equal to 8.0. As regards audio and podcasts, Rai Play Sound recorded 440 thousand downloads as part of a diversified offer aimed at a younger segment of the public attracted by the latest in digital entertainment.
During the same meeting of the Board, the 2023 Sustainability Report was approved unanimously by those present, the document which sets out the results achieved by the Rai Group in terms of sustainable development both within the Group and in its effects for the benefit of the citizens, analyzing the effects of corporate activities in terms of social, environmental and governance responsibility, together with the ESG dimensions. The annual report, which from 2024 will give an account of the initiatives envisaged in the recently approved 2024-2026 Sustainability Plan, is drawn up to give an account to all interlocutors, institutional and otherwise, of the ways in which Rai's offer fulfills the obligations of the Contract of Service and creates awareness among users of the sustainability objectives defined in the UN agenda for 2030, collaborating to achieve them.
The Board of Directors also took note of the 2024 summer schedules.
The common thread will be sport which will light up Rai 1 and Rai 2, broadcasting, among other things, the European Football Championships, the Olympics and Paralympics, as well as the Tour de France.
The board of directors meeting will continue on Thursday 18 April.