The phenomenon of audiovisual piracy in Italy, and in the entire world, continues to represent a serious problem for the entire sector. An analysis developed by the company Ipsos for FAPAV (Federation for the Protection of Audiovisual and Multimedia Content), shows a substantially stable trend in the phenomenon of piracy in Italy, with an incidence of 37% in 2019, while highlighting a significant drop in the number of acts of piracy, 28% less than the previous year.
Regarding the most required content, movies are pirated by 84% of those who commit illegal acts, followed by series and fictions (63%) and programs (46%). Regarding sports, the incidence of piracy increased to 10%, with a sharp increase in the acts carried out (+ 38).
The damages to the Italian audiovisual industry due to piracy reached 591 million euros in 2019, with almost 6 thousand jobs at risk. It is estimated that the impact of the illegal phenomenon on the accounts of the Paese System exceeds one billion euros; about 500 million euros the estimated damage to the Italian economy in terms of GDP; 200 million euros in lost tax revenue.
THE PIRACY IN QUARANTINE
In the long quarantine period, Italian families spent more time enjoying audiovisual content. The percentage of piracy increased, reaching 40% in just two months, compared to 37% for all of 2019, as well as the number of illegal acts grew, from 69 million in the average two-month period of 2019 to 243 million in the period two months this year.
During the lockdown, the forced housewife accounted for about 10% of the acts of piracy for the first time, about 5% of them through illicit IPTV. The good news is the growth, estimated at around 8%, of new subscribers to official streaming platforms, of these, 76% say they want to continue using these services in the future as well. Another interesting phenomenon is the growth of illegal IPTV: users in this last period have almost doubled compared to all of 2019, but not through the subscription of new illegal subscriptions, but mainly through the exchange or approval of those that already exist.
"The data presented referring to 2019 confirm the growth of illegal IPTV as a phenomenon that hides a much larger underground economy, as it also arose from the recent operations of the Guardia di Finanza also carried out at the international level," said Federico Bagnoli Rossi, General Secretary of FAPAV. “The substantial stability of the incidence of piracy and a contraction linked to the number of acts carried out by users in the last year, highlight the effectiveness of enforcement and consumer awareness activities, today The highlight is the growth of the legal offer, which is increasingly rich and diversified. In this direction, the audiovisual industry must concentrate its efforts through increasingly competitive offers and timely information activities. "
"The lockout period obviously represented an exceptional circumstance and it will be necessary to continue carefully with data analysis to assess how the phenomenon will evolve, testifying that piracy remains a serious problem for the industry and that numbers can easily increase in particular situations," continued the General Secretary of FAPAV.