The first evening of the 2026 Festival di Sanremo, held on February 24, was watched by 9.6 million viewers, with a share of 58%, about 3 million fewer compared to the 2025 edition.
Laura Pausini's debut as a presenter, super guest Tiziano Ferro, Turkish actor Can Yaman, as well as the surprise return of Kabir Bedi, in addition to tributes to Pippo Baudo and Peppe Vessicchio, were not enough to equal last year's record figures.
In 2025, under the direction of Carlo Conti, the first evening had reached 12.6 million viewers and a 65.3% share – one of the highest results in recent years.
However, the 58% figure remains the fourth-best result since 1997 and higher than the 2021 (46.6%) and 2022 (54.7%) editions run by Amadeus. The highest records of recent years remain 2023 (62.5%), 2024 (65.1%) and 2025 (65.3%).
A decline has also been observed on social networks: new followers on the festival's profiles were 43 thousand this year, much less than 94 thousand in 2025 and 146 thousand in 2024. Interactions have also fallen from 3.5 million in 2025 to around 1.7 million in 2026, although content production remains high with 225 posts in 24 hours.
Carlo Conti had warned that he did not expect to equal the figures of the previous year, stating that he "does not get excited when things go well and does not get demoralized when the results are not the same."
Sanremo 2026 thus begins with a weaker start compared to the record year 2025, but still with strong figures in the Italian television panorama.
