A new EUIPO study reveals that while piracy rates have stabilized in the EU, significant variations exist across countries and content types. The research also links higher piracy rates and socioeconomic factors such as youth unemployment and income inequality. Higher average incomes and increased awareness of legal alternatives reduce piracy.

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) regularly conducts studies to see how piracy develops over time.

These studies help the public to understand local piracy trends and can be used as input for future policy decisions.

This week, EUIPO released another in-depth piracy report titled “Online Copyright Infringement in the European Union.” The research is part of a recurring series which has tracked European piracy rates since 2017.

Last year’s study, for example, revealed after years of declining piracy volumes, there was a small uptick of 3.3% in 2022. This rise was primarily driven by a surge in illegal TV streaming, which accounted for nearly half of all online piracy.

The latest report finds that in 2023 the piracy numbers have somewhat stabilized in the EU. However, it’s hard to make generalized statements as piracy habits differ greatly from country to country.

New EU Piracy Report

As in previous years, the research is based on data purchased from piracy tracking firm MUSO. This doesn’t measure piracy consumption directly. Instead, it is based on estimated visits to pirate sites.

The main findings can be summarized in one chart (pictured below). This shows that, similar to last year, there were an average of 10 piracy visits per user per Internet month across the EU.

In Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, and Lithuania, the number of visits was more than double the EU average (20+). On the other end of the spectrum, we see that Italy, Germany and Romania are the three countries with the least piracy visits per Internet user, between 7 and 8 per month.

2023 Piracy in the EU

The chart also reveals the most popular content categories per country. Across the EU, 50% of all pirate site visits go to TV content. In Malta, this goes up to 61%, while it’s ‘only’ 42% in France.

Software and movies piracy are relatively popular in Croatia, while Ireland has the highest percentage of music pirates. Finally, in France publishing piracy, which includes manga, is relatively popular with 37% of all visits.

Unemployment and Income Inequality

For those interested, the research delves much deeper into these content categories. However, our attention was drawn to the econometric analysis that aims to find drivers of the various piracy habits.

EUIPO reports that countries with higher average incomes and those where people are more aware of legal options tend to have less piracy. This suggests that, when people have more to spend, they pirate less.

On the flip side, factors such as youth unemployment, a larger youth population, and overall income inequality are linked to higher piracy volumes.

Econometric Findings

Digging more into the details, we see that these broader conclusions don’t always hold up. For example, the impact of youth unemployment on piracy varied depending on the type of content. For TV and music piracy, higher youth unemployment was surprisingly linked to lower piracy rates.

The study suggests this might be because unemployed young people may live with parents who pay for legal subscriptions. However, for film and live sports events, higher youth unemployment was still associated with higher piracy rates.

IPTV Surge?

Finally, EUIPO’s report makes an effort to capture some IPTV related trends as well. This has long been a gap in the reporting, as MUSO’s data is based on website visits. However, the research now uses visits to IPTV subscription signup pages as a proxy.

It finds that, in 2023, there was a 10% increase in visits to pirate IPTV registration pages, with an average of 2.14% of internet users visiting these websites each month.

Although the actual number of users who subscribe to pirate IPTV services is unknown, a simulation indicates that, even with conservative assumptions, 1% of EU internet users could have subscribed to illegal IPTV services in just two years.

These percentages are hard to interpret without a historical reference. Previously, research commissioned by Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), estimated that 4.5% of the EU population used pirate IPTV services in 2021. This number presumably went up in the following years.

All in all, the research provides a detailed overview of the piracy landscape. The year-over-year comparisons will help to evaluate policy and to determine where more progress can be made.

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A copy of the “Online Copyright Infringement in the European union title-level study: Film, Music, Publications, Software and TV (2017-2023)” report, is available here (pdf).