On average, 12.7 million (24%) of French Internet users per month visited Web sites with unlicensed cultural material in 2020 according to HADOPI, the Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Œuvres et la Protection des droits d’auteur sur Internet, loosely translated, is the “High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Copyright on the Internet.” COVID lockdown during the first half of 2020 drove that usage to 27% in March 2020, or 27%.
Consumption of unlicensed content rose from 81% in May 2019 to 89% during the period of March through May 2020. Site consumption was more diverse in 2020 than it was in 2019, with the top five illegal sites representing 34% of viewership, compared with 48% in 2018.
Read the original report published in issue #27 of The Essential: The Studies of HADOPI in 10 minutes flat.** (PDF, in French)
Read a rough English translation (via Google Translate)
Why it matters
There was a lot of conjecture during 2020 about the impact of COVID and the associated lockdowns, on piracy and piracy consumption. This data reflects the obvious – that live sports was reduced to a trickle during the 2nd quarter in particular; and the less obvious – that piracy increased by just 4 percent. It also reflected broader trends that were already underway, including the increase in the use of mobile devices to access infringing content.
** Original Title, in French: 12,7 MILLIONS D’INTERNAUTES ONT VISITÉ EN MOYENNE CHAQUE MOIS DES SITES ILLICITES DE BIENS CULTURELS DÉMATÉRIALISÉS EN 2020, SOIT 24 % DES INTERNAUTES FRANÇAIS. Published in L’Essentiel: Les études de l’Hadopi en 10 minutes chrono.
