Who is the real winner of Sanremo 2025 according to social media?

The Sanremo Festival 2025 has confirmed itself as much more than a music competition: its appeal to younger audiences is indeed online, within the vast network of memes and comments that turn the contest into a true collective comedy. While the Ariston Theatre remains the nerve center of the event, it is now only one of many stages where the battle for attention is played out. The other arena, equally important, is the digital space. Millions of users on Instagram and TikTok followed, commented on, and shared the Festival's highlights, turning performances and behind-the-scenes moments into viral content. Underscoring the importance of this parallel ecosystem is the analysis conducted by Buzzoole, a leading martech agency in influencer marketing and social engagement measurement. The study reveals that the Sanremo week is not just about televoting and jury judgments: the real challenge is to win over the online audience and convert attention into tangible fanbase growth and visibility. With over 250 million interactions recorded during the event week and an overall reach exceeding 500 million users across Instagram and TikTok, Sanremo 2025 has confirmed that the true victory is played out increasingly on social media.

According to the study, the artist who experienced the fastest social media growth was the runner-up Lucio Corsi. The Tuscan singer-songwriter became the social phenomenon of the festival, recording unprecedented follower increases: +1119.88% on Instagram with 693,756 new followers and an incredible surge of +2745.50% on TikTok with 165,087 new followers. These numbers not only demonstrate the effectiveness of his stage presence and digital content but also his ability to establish an immediate and authentic connection with a young, social-oriented audience. The duet between Corsi and Topo Gigio blended nostalgia with irony, achieving remarkable results: +522,000 followers for Corsi and +33,000 for Topo Gigio's official account, which saw peaks in mentions and shares, particularly among millennials. The Festival winner, Olly, further solidified his already substantial popularity, gaining 799,737 new followers on Instagram (+213.20%) and 178,900 on TikTok (+62.55%), confirming that sharing and interacting on social media can significantly amplify exposure and help build a strong televote base to secure victory.

Simone Cristicchi and Joan Thiele also surprised audiences: Cristicchi achieved a +454.99% growth on TikTok (26,726 new followers) and +66.11% on Instagram, while Thiele saw a +436.94% increase on TikTok (12,125 new followers) and +41.25% on Instagram. While the official ranking declares winners and losers, the social media landscape tells a different story. Serena Brancale, through behind-the-scenes content and direct fan interactions, grew her Instagram follower base by +51.21% (177,679 new followers). Meanwhile, Brunori Sas proved to be one of the most appreciated artists on social media, gaining +140,320 followers on Instagram (+40.63%) and +32,900 on TikTok (+261.11%), confirming that engagement can stem from intimate moments and personal stories away from the cameras. A particularly noteworthy case is that of Fedez: following the controversy surrounding the Corona case, the rapper focused his entire Festival participation on exposing his vulnerability, creating one of the strongest redemption arcs in the event’s history. Although he had experienced a decline in followers and negative sentiment in the weeks leading up to the Festival, his Ariston performance triggered a turnaround: +150,000 followers in the following days and a 35% increase in positive sentiment according to Buzzoole metrics.

This massive generation of impressions, convertible into EMV, demonstrates that Sanremo is no longer just a music celebration but a strategic platform for brands and companies. Buzzoole’s data indicates over 102 sponsored contents published during the Festival's early days, with Instagram reaffirming its role as the preferred platform for artist-brand collaborations. Partnerships like Clara with Iliad, Gaia with Max & Co, Coma_Cose for Revlon, and Sarah Toscano with Adidas averaged 1.2 million views per post, turning Sanremo into a vast commercial stage where each artist becomes a brand ambassador. What stands out, however, is the apparent decline of Fantasanremo. After revolutionizing audience engagement in recent years, the game saw a drop in interest compared to 2024: social content dedicated to it decreased from 1,010 to 670 posts.

While gamification had previously created a direct link between the audience and the artists, this year it seems that the spontaneity that fueled its success has waned in favor of a more open social media approach, focused on meme creation and viral tweets rather than the formal rules of the game. Additionally, the more serious tone of this edition left less room for artists' improvisation and, consequently, for the famous "bonuses" of Fantasanremo. Overall, Buzzoole's analysis demonstrated that a strong digital fanbase is crucial to an artist’s success. While television remains the traditional medium for reaching a broad audience, social networks can extend an artist's visibility far beyond the Sanremo week—now a fully-fledged digital and media ecosystem where storytelling on social platforms is an integral part of the competition.