Rai has approved the 2020 Financial Report, illustrated to the board of directors by CEO Fabrizio Salini. The 2020 Financial Report closed with a balanced consolidated net result and a negative net financial position of 523.4 million. A worsening compared to 2019, “but still attested to levels of sustainability”. These are the effects of the pandemic. In 2020, production activities were downsized, in turn generating “a significant reduction in revenues”.
Revenues for 2020, recorded a drop of almost 147 million euros (-5.5%), due to the contraction of fees (over 70 million euros). A contraction due “both to the negative impacts of the pandemic on special ones and the one-off effect in 2019 of the contingency for portions of previous fees”. Advertising revenues decreased by about 45 million euros. Other revenue sources also declined, in particular due to the critical situation in the film sector.
During 2020, cost containment initiatives were adopted, for savings of around 140 million, which involved in particular the area of sports, product and staff. Moreover, redundancy incentives, for which 15 million euros have been allocated, continue to be implemented.
As far as editorial results are concerned, in 2020 the channels of the Rai group recorded 35.2% over the whole day and 36.0% over prime time. Digital platforms have recorded about 260 million total hours as time spent on the platform with about 1,700 million views.
“Despite extreme difficulties, cinema has never stopped. Rai Cinema has never stopped. And with us, many independent producers with whom we have worked non-stop; guaranteeing the continuation of productions has meant keeping the engine of Italian cinema running, while waiting for an overall restart”.
With these words, during the online convention entitled “A riveder le stelle”, CEO Paolo Del Brocco presented the extensive list of films that are ready, in production and in development produced by Rai Cinema.
Del Brocco reflected on the importance of Rai Cinema’s contribution for workers and companies active in the Italian audiovisual industry in such a complicated period and made some important announcements for the sector. Rai Cinema’s managing director revealed that Chapters 2 and 3 of Diabolik will be made, thus building a trilogy around the famous comic book character: the Manetti Bros. will start filming the two new episodes as early as October. In addition, the release dates of three highly anticipated films have been set: on October 28, 2021, Gabriele Mainetti’s Freaks Out will land on big screens; on December 16, 2021, the first chapter of Diabolik; and on December 30, La Befana Vien Di Notte 2, a prequel to the 2018 hit film, starring new entry Monica Bellucci.
For further information regarding the financial report visit: www.rai.it
