Italian admissions for 2006 demonstrated little difference in respect to 2005. Italy's national ticket compiler Cinetel cites a slight 1.65% increase in attendance last year for a total of 92.2m tickets sold. Cinetel's data covers 85% of the Italian market.

Analysts here cite the first half of the year as better than the second half and are particularly disappointed by a 9.07% decrease in December, traditionally a busy month in Italian cinemas.

Local product in 2006 represented a similar share of the 2005 market.

Audiences bought 23m tickets to see local productions in 2006 (compared to 22.5m in 2005). Italian productions scooped up a 25% market share, and while it could be better, data confirms that local production keeps audiences interested.

In explanation of the figures, analysts cite slow local production in 2006, inconsistency in regard to day and date releases (a constant gripe for local exhibitors), piracy and over crowding of product in a shortened release season due to lack of summer releases as motivation for the soft 2006 figures.

Compared to other major European territories, local analysts point out that Italy lagged behind Germany which demonstrated a 7.9% increase in 2006 as well as France (up 7.5%) while Spain showed a 2.2% decrease in ticket sales in respect to 2005's figures.

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