Europeans access illegal content online 10 times a month on average.
EUIPO’s first analysis on the evolution of online copyright infringement was published in 2019 and focused specifically on movies, music and TV content. Since then, the scope has been expanded to include data on access to pirated movies, TV programmes and music from January 2017 to December 2023 in the 27 EU Member States, as well as data on pirated access to publications and software from 2021 to 2023.
An important novelty in this study is that it looks at piracy related to IPTV, i.e. the transmission of TV content over internet protocols (IP), capturing its growing impact on the market. Due to its different nature, IPTV piracy is not measured in the same way as website piracy.
The figures presented represent the number of visits to websites offering the possibility to subscribe to pirated IPTV services. IPTV piracy involves the illegal streaming of television content, movies and live sporting events over Internet Protocol networks, sometimes mimicking legitimate IPTV services, but bypassing official pay -TV channels. These pirate services often require specific hardware (boxes) or software (special applications).
The current study reveals that digital piracy in the EU remains high but did not increase in 2023, remaining at 10 incidents per internet user. This trend is evident across all categories of online content, except for publishing, where piracy decreased, and music, where it increased compared to the beginning of 2023.
Key findings:
- Overall piracy stabilizes at around 10 cases per internet user per month on average. However, software piracy as well as piracy of live sporting events have increased compared to the previous version of the report.
- For the first time, data on IPTV piracy is available, although the actual consumption of content through this medium remains unknown. However, simulations carried out under different scenarios show that this type of piracy is increasing, as is the stock of potential users.
- Although the factors affecting each type of content vary, social and economic factors remain relevant in many cases. For example, the wealth of countries (GDP), the degree of equality (Gini index), citizens’ perception of copyright protection and the volume of legal content supply can explain piracy.
See the summary of the study in English here.
See the full study in English here.
