Investment in content for Italy’s film, TV and streaming industries dropped 7.4% to €2 billion ($2.24 billion) in 2025, with the scripted sector hit hardest — and producers are blaming government uncertainty over the country’s crucial tax credits. The numbers come from a new report by Italian TV producers’ association APA, presented this week at the MIA market in Rome.
The Monster of Florence (Credits: Netflix)
The tax credit question
At the heart of the slowdown is doubt over the future of Italy’s tax credit incentive fund, which lets producers recover up to 40% of investment costs — one of the highest rates in Europe. The government has been steadily trimming the support: a €150 million cut from the €700 million fund in the draft 2026 budget, following a €50 million reduction last year, with a further €50 million cut scheduled for 2027.
The industry is furious. Producers warn the cuts will mean fewer projects, fewer working crews and lost jobs in a sector that employs around 124,000 people across film, TV and radio. Italy’s associations have called the industry “strategic for both the Italian economy and the country’s international image.”
A double squeeze
The timing couldn’t be worse. Alongside the funding uncertainty, Italian producers are caught in the same linear-to-streaming transition reshaping TV everywhere, with audiences and money continuing to drift away from traditional channels. Scripted production — the most expensive to make — is absorbing the biggest blow.
The paradox is sharp: Europe’s largest studio, Cinecittà, is pushing to boost production capacity by 60% and re-establish Italy as a cinematic powerhouse, with Mel Gibson’s “The Resurrection of the Christ” among the projects set to film there. But if domestic financing keeps drying up, that ambition may rest on foreign productions alone.
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Source: Variety — read the full story there.
