Pier Berlusconi, a 2025 that we can define as memorable for many aspects is coming to an end, starting from the fact that your great dream has come true: a pan-European television. Yes, 2025 for us at Mediaset, for Media for Europe, was an extraordinary year. After 7 years of work, determination, and courage, we have achieved this truly multinational dimension. I emphasize, we are the only Italian multinational in the media world. Today we speak to over 220 million people, it gives us the drive to look forward, even though there is much to do, to make everything an organic whole that can withstand even a constantly evolving world. Listen, may I ask you what effect it has on you to have transformed what was a family business into a large multinational, exactly as you pointed out, Italian?
But on one hand there is the pride of having transformed, I use the word you used, what was my father's dream years and years ago, into what today can be called a reality. On the other hand, however, there is also the awareness that the work to be done will be enormous and that it will be very hard. I repeat, the media world is under pressure, the European economy is in a delicate moment to say the least, television and traditional media are under stress, so it is also an act of courage that gives us a great sense of responsibility. We will have to constantly evolve, look forward, strive toward the future, but we are at a good point, but the work is not complete.
Courage of an entrepreneur, I emphasize, you were speaking earlier of this moment that is indeed an endless moment of international crisis, yet also from the perspective of economic results, one must be satisfied.
We will close 2025 again with excellent results. Our job is complicated. The pressure, the competition from the web giants is felt enormously. It is a very difficult competition to counter because of their size, but also because there are no rules. So these gentlemen, the digital multinationals, they come, they act, they make revenue in Europe, for example, they do not pay the same taxes as national European companies, so it is really tough and complicated. That said, we look forward with confidence. We are going against the trend compared to all the broadcasters, television stations, and European media companies that are laying off. We are hiring people, more than 250 young people under 30 just in the last year between Italy and Spain. I think being an entrepreneur is this. So pride, I repeat, but also a lot of tension toward the future.
Listen, you really got everything right this year. I am also referring to the ratings, extraordinary ratings. Wheel of Fortune and not only, there is reason to toast.
Well, let's say we closed a year, particularly in Italy, with truly excellent results. Canale 5 in particular has evolved a bit, this evolution will continue, and the results have come, and as it is not in our goals, we measure ourselves against ourselves, but for the third year in the history of Italian television, Mediaset's ratings are absolutely higher than those of the competitor that provides public service. So great satisfaction. There are many products that work, very rich television, Wheel of Fortune is a phenomenon. It is a phenomenon. It achieves ratings that I think even in the rest of the world day after day have not been seen for decades.
You have been talking for a long time about tailor-made products. What do you like and what would you like to focus on when talking about products?
Look, I think the big difference between those who make television like ours, free-to-air, that speaks to the whole country and the big platforms, the new technologies, lies right here: on the platforms you have somewhat cold products, placed like in a freezer that the viewer chooses to watch when and how they want, but they are alas cold, they are pre-cooked, they are packaged. Generalist television must be national, local, with roots in the territory. It is like a dish cooked in a restaurant or at a family's home. So a German dish in Germany, an Italian dish in Italy, and a Spanish dish in Spain made specifically to be consumed there hot. That is television, with lots of live programming, lots of news, and products that always have that truly national something that keeps the roots of individual countries alive.
