Russia 2018: "For the first time, broadcasting football brings profits" (P-S Berlusconi, Mediaset)

"We are experiencing a historic case, as for the first time, broadcasting a football competition can generate profits," said Pier Silvio Berlusconi, managing director of the Italian free and pay-TV group Mediaset, about the 2018 World Cup on 05/07/2018.

Mediaset, which acquired the broadcast rights, in Italy, to the competition on 21/12/2017, after the elimination of the Italian national team (defeated in the UEFA-zone qualifying play-offs of the zone Europe against Sweden: 1-0 away to Sweden on 11/11/2017, 0-0 in the return leg in Italy on 14/11/2017), broadcasts all the games on free-TV channels (Canale 5, Italia 1, or Canale 20).

Audiences and advertising revenues are "well above our expectations," said the son of Silvio Berlusconi.

Italy: 4.02 million viewers on average for 55 of the first 56 matches of the 2018 World Cup

The average rises to 4.56 million if we exclude eight of the 16 games on the last round of the group stage (broadcast on the free-TV channel Canale 20), all scheduled at the same time as the other eight games in those groups.

Eight games drew more than 7…