The final of the 2025 Italian Super Cup recorded the lowest audience since 2010. The fault lies in the absence of one of the great Northern teams with a larger catchment area
The tarpaulins to cover part of the deserted stands of the Riyadh stadium and ratings that mark a historic flop. The final between Naples and Bologna, the right one for lovers of the original spirit of the Italian Super Cup – a match between winners of the Scudetto and the Italian Cup – was a flop on television. The audience figure recorded by Auditel for the live broadcast on Italia Uno was 4,042,000 viewers with a share of 19.7%. The worst listening from 2010 to today, by detachment.
In fact, until yesterday, the worst performance was the match between Juventus and Lazio in August 2015 with 4.6 million viewers and a share of 33%. The clear signal that football on TV is always popular as long as there are the teams with the largest catchment area. It is no coincidence that Mediaset had scheduled the Riyadh match on Italia Uno and not on Canale Cinque as a possible final would have been with the derby between Inter and Milan which a year ago had reached 7.4 million viewers with a share of 32.6%.
Super Cup final, viewers (almost) halved compared to a year ago
The drop was clear: -45% in terms of audiences, very far from the historical record that belongs to Inter-Juventus in January 2021 with 7.890 million viewers and the share that dates back to 2011 (Inter-Milan with 41.1%). The final act that awarded the trophy to Antonio Conte was the closing of an Italian Super Cup in a minor way given that even the semi-finals had struggled to make their way into the generalist TV schedules: 4.1 million (20.3%) for Napoli-Milan and even 3.5 million (18.6%) for the penalty marathon of Bologna-Inter.
It’s a shame because from a television point of view, the trip to Saudi Arabia represented an excellent effort on the part of Lega Calcio Serie A. 33 cameras were used with innovative solutions such as the customized one with which the moment of the award ceremony was filmed directly from the chest of Neapolitan captain Di Lorenzo or the Ref Cam which has now become a habit for Serie A viewers and which is the investment on which the League is focusing heavily to improve the television product.
According to the logic of the ratings, the main protagonists were missing. It is clear that the merit of the field comes first, but the data will make us reflect on future choices. Next year the Italian Super Cup will not be in Saudi Arabia and will return there later for the last slot of the four-year contract; free field for alternatives with the concrete possibility that the Final Four format intended for the Arab customer will be abandoned.
Read also:
