The measures that have been adopted against piracy in Spain marked a trend of clear and drastic decline since 2017, but the latest Observatory of digital content consumption habits in 2023 reveals a worrying stagnation for the cultural sector. The number of illegal access it barely registered a decrease of 1% from 2022 and reached 5,079 million. Due to the increase in the cost of content, its market value also rose to 33,957 million euros, with a «notable increase of 5% (7 points in two years)”, according to the Coalition of Content Creators and Industries.
The damage to creators and industries rose to 1,992 million euros, hindering the creation of 107,410 jobs direct and indirect and the income that the public coffers could receive in 600 million not collected in terms of VAT, Personal Income Tax and Social Security contributions.
«The stagnation of data shows how the parasitic illegal market has managed to evade current measures to continue committing crimes, opening cracks in the recovery and ruining the many resources and efforts that the cultural sector and the Administration have promoted these years ago,” states Carlota Navarrete, general director of the Coalition of Content Creators and Industries.
In his opinion, “it is time to urgently and willingly improve all instruments and make room for more effective solutions» to «face the challenges and offer responses to the immediate challenges of the protection of intellectual property and Culture, as a fundamental strategic area for the future and competitiveness».
Google, Telegram and WhatsApp
With 37%, 4% more than in 2022, the book sector once again leads the percentage of individuals who access illicit content, according to this map on piracy that the consulting firm GfK has been preparing for more than a decade at the request of the Coalition of Content Creators and Industries.
It is followed by the musicwhich despite falling 7% stands at 30% and continues to be the most economically punished by these practices, with 2,369 million accesses whose value would rise to 11,320 million euros, 10% more.
Also the pirate consumption of magazines has increased by 27% in number of individuals and 28% in volume of content, representing a loss of 340 million euros. The number of pirate consumers series It also increased by 10% compared to 2022, although movies fell by 7%.
Although seven out of ten Internet users recognize that creators and cultural industries are a strategic sector and that there is sufficient legal supply that is easily accessible, the consumption of illicit content is justified with various arguments (“everyone does it”). . Almost half, 46%, claim not to distinguish between legal and illegal platforms.
Search engines, especially Google (92% of searches), continue to be the main gateway to pirated content, followed by messaging applications and social networks. Facebook has given way to Telegram as the preferred option, followed by YouTube, Whatsapp, Instagram and Twitter. The Observatory highlights that half of pirate Internet users use Telegram and of them, 40% belong to a group in which they have access to illegal content.
In the case of WhatsApp, one in ten Internet users belongs to a group with access to content and the most consumed are images, followed by movies, series, books, magazines or newspapers and music.
One in four users acknowledges having paid to access some illegal content and 60% of consumers have tried to enter a closed or no longer existing portal, such as Torrent.
“Measures must be improved to fight offenders more definitively,” urge the Coalition of content creators and industries, which calls for “stopping the hamster wheel and ending criminal practices in access to content protected by intellectual property.
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