Pier Berlusconi, a 2025 that we can define memorable for many aspects is coming to an end, starting from the fact that what was his great dream, a pan-European television, has been realized.
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, and that gives us the drive to look ahead, even though there is much to do, to make everything an organic whole that can withstand a constantly evolving world. Listen, may I ask you what effect it has to have transformed what was a family company into a great multinational, precisely, as you highlighted, an Italian one?
But on the 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 there will be a huge amount of work to do 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 old media are under stress, so it is also an act of courage that gives us a great sense of responsibility. We will have to evolve continuously, look ahead, focused on the future, but we are at a good point, but the work is not done.
Courage of an entrepreneur, I emphasize, you were talking earlier about this moment which is a never-ending 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 complicated trade, the pressure, the competition from the web giants is felt very much. 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, come, operate, earn in Europe, for example, they don't pay the same taxes as national European companies, so it's really tough and complicated. That said, we look ahead with confidence. We are going against the trend compared to all European broadcasters, television stations and media companies that are laying off people. We are hiring people, more than 250 young people under 30 in the last year alone between Italy and Spain. I think being an entrepreneur is this. So pride, I repeat, but also a lot of tension towards the future.
Listen, you really got everything right this year. I am also referring to the ratings, extraordinary ratings. The 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 even though it's not in our objectives, 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, a very rich television, the Wheel 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 Taylor Made products. Um, what do you like and what would you like to focus on when talking about products?
But look, I think the big difference between those who make television like ours, free, that speaks to the whole country, and the big platforms, new technologies, lies right here. That is, on platforms you have products that are a bit cold, placed like in a freezer that the viewer chooses to watch when and how they want, but they are alas cold, they are precooked, they are packaged. Generalist television must be national, local, with roots in the territory. It's like a dish cooked in a restaurant or at a family home. So a German dish in Germany, an Italian dish in Italy and a Spanish dish in Spain, made specifically to be consumed hot there. This is television: lots of live programming, lots of news, and products that always have something truly national that keeps the roots of individual countries alive.
