Not only streaming

Illegal online access, Italy leads the ranking of virtuous countries

The figure emerges from the new Euipo study: in the European context, Italy goes against the trend and ranks among the most virtuous EU countries

1 December 2024

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3' min read

Not only streaming but also music and manga. The race for illegal online content does not stop but, in the European context, Italy goes against the trend and ranks among the most virtuous EU countries. All thanks to a lower number of accesses to illegal online content calculated per person and per month. This figure emerges from the new study by Euipo, (the European Union's Office for Intellectual Property) "Online Copyright Infringement in the European Union: Films, Music, Publications, Software and TV, 2017-2023", which measures the phenomenon of online piracy, noting the number of times internet users aged between 15 and 74 access illegal content each month.

European average access

The study confirms that online piracy in the EU stands at an average of 10.2 hits per user per month. "This trend," emphasise Euipo, "is evident in all categories of online content, with the exception of publications, which saw a decline in piracy, and music, which saw an increase from the beginning of 2023.

The study also found that half of European Internet users' access to pirated content concerns TV content with an average of five times per month.

Virtuous Italy

Compared to last year's survey, Italy climbs one position to the top of the ranking of the most virtuous countries, with an average of 7.3 accesses per user. The Baltic countries and Cyprus close the ranking with more than 20 accesses per month. Travelling below the European average are Austria with 8.9 accesses per user per month, Spain with 8.5, Romania with 7.9 and Germany with 7.7.

Need to address causes

For João Negrão, Executive Director of Euipo, it is "imperative to address the root causes of this behaviour, which often lie in insufficient access to affordable legal content and the need for greater public awareness of the consequences of piracy".

Streaming, the most popular

As for modes, streaming is the most commonly used method to access pirated content. "In fact, illegal streaming has shown an alarming trend, with a 10 % increase in visits to pirate websites for Iptv services in 2023," the report goes on to say. "The study estimates that up to 1 % of EU internet users may have subscribed to illegal Iptv services in just two years, without taking into account users who had subscribed before 2022.

Between smartphone and PC

The means used by those who travel to pirate sites range from smartphones (the most used) to desktop computers (the favourites).
As for trends then, the study shows that film piracy has dropped to 0.71 hits per user, predominantly via streaming, which accounts for 74 % of activity.
Music piracy has increased slightly to 0.64 hits per user, 'where ripping (or downloading of streaming content) is the main method. Factors such as inequality, youth demographics and attitudes towards piracy are linked to higher levels of music piracy'.

The primacy of manga

Then there is the piracy of publications, which 'remained stable at 2.7 hits per user. Downloading is the main method, while manga is the most pirated type of content, especially on mobile devices. Software piracy grew by 6 % (with 0.88 accesses per user per month), with mobile games being the main category'.

Sports events

Not least, piracy for live sporting events, which 'grew in the period 2021-2023, with 0.56 hits per user at the end of last year'.

The contrast

Thus, initiatives to counter the phenomenon also include awareness-raising campaigns. Among the initiatives is Euipo's Agorateka tool that helps viewers identify legal offers of online content, including sports events. As the new study shows, increased awareness of legal offers helps to reduce piracy.