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- According to the European Union Intellectual Property Office, visits to piracy sites increased in 2022< /li>
- Social economic factors (and price increases) can have an impact on piracy figures
- According to another study which focuses on films and series, piracy has increased by 18% worldwide in 2022
About ten years ago, the imminent end of piracy was predicted. Indeed, thanks to Netflix or Spotify type subscriptions, we had fewer and fewer reasons to use illegal platforms. However, in 2023, Europe will see that piracy is on the rise again. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has just published a new report on piracy in EU countries. And according to this report, the consumption of pirated content was up 3.3% in 2022.
This study measures the number of monthly accesses to illegal content (films, series, publications, software, etc.). And according to the data analyzed, this number was slightly decreasing until 2021. Then, the trend was reversed. The EUIPO explains that this increase observed in 2022 is mainly caused by the streaming of television content, which represents 48% of pirated content. For this category, piracy increased by 15% in 2022.
Increase in television content
“The most pirated genres are television shows and series and films on demand, followed by animated productions (series and films) and live broadcasts of sporting events as well as sports channels”, explains the EUIPO. The office also indicates that on average, a European Internet user opens pirated content sites 10 times per month, at the end of 2022.
Economic parameters, such as GDP per capita, income inequality, as well as the proportion of young people in a country's population can affect piracy figures. However, it is also possible that price increases from streaming platforms could have an effect. Additionally, recently Netflix has started cracking down on account sharing, which may push some people to consume pirated content (or create their own accounts).
A global phenomenon?
If the EUIPO study focuses on piracy in Europe, a study by Muso (focused on television content), published by Variety, also mentioned an 18% increase in visits to piracy sites, worldwide, after a period of decline during confinement. In total, 215 billion visits were recorded in 2022.
Moreover, Muso predicts a new increase in piracy of films and series in 2023. According to him, this increase would be due “a combination of factors, including the growing volume of content post-pandemic, releases being increasingly exclusive to many legal subscription platforms, and global inflationary and economic pressures.” /em>
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