While the latest data on audiovisual piracy in Italy has shown piracy overall to be trending downward by 1% to 2% per year since 2021, piracy in 2024 was still estimated to have cost the Italian economy over €900 million and more than 12,000 jobs.
The past two years have seen the new Italian anti-piracy law go into effect, complemented by the activation of AGCOM’s Piracy Shield platform which is designed to alert Internet service providers to block the illegal online posting of live sports content within 30 minutes.
AGCOM is extending Piracy Shield to first-view audiovisual content, as provided for by Law 93/2023, and an AGCOM consultation aimed at this implementation is underway in these weeks. AGCOM is Italy’s telecommunications regulator.
In a stroke of irony, on June 19th, AGCOM released a warning about fraudulent communications, posing as official bulletins from Piracy Shield customer service.
Report details
The 2024 report produced by IPSOS and the Federation for the Protection of Audiovisual and Multimedia Content Industries (FAPAV) was presented on June 18 at and presented at the Aula Magna “Carlo Mosca” of the School of Improvement for the Police Forces in Rome.
Losses stemming from piracy were quantified by the report:
- 38%: the overall incidence of piracy (of movies, series/fiction, programs and live sports) among Italians aged 15 or older).
- Piracy movie: 29% (30% in 2023).
- Piracy series/fiction: 23% (22% in 2023).
- Piracy programs: 22% (21% in 2023).
- Live sport piracy: 15% (stable compared to 2023).
- 22%: incidence of illegal IPTV for watching movies, series, programs and sports, even just on trial/without a subscription.
- 294.5 million: the total estimate of acts of piracy in 2024.
- 73 million: the estimated number of lost uses of movies, series/fiction and live sports.
Costs associated with piracy in Italy:
- 778 million euros: the estimate of the potential damage in terms of turnover lost directly due to the lack of legal use of pirated films and series/fiction in 2024, considering the possibility of maintaining subscriptions for the entire year (+1% vs 2023).
- 350 million euros: the estimate of the damage in terms of turnover lost directly due to the lack of legal use of pirated live sports in 2024 (+23% vs 2023).
- 2.2 billion euros: the estimate of the turnover lost by all Italian economic sectors due to the piracy of films, series/fiction, live sports (+10% vs 2023).
Consumers lack awareness
FAPAV said that although it is clear that piracy is punishable as a crime (75% of teenage pirates and 78% of adult pirates), only just over half of pirates are sensitive to the possibility of being discovered and punished (61% of adolescent pirates and 56% of adult pirates).
In addition, 42% of the population has doubts about the real effectiveness of Italy’s anti-piracy legislation, especially because they are convinced that there is a way around it.
FAPAV concludes that it seems crucial to raise awareness of the damages and social and individual risks of audiovisual piracy, also on a legal and sanctioning level.
Futher reading
FAPAV/IPSOS 2024 Survey. Research report and press release. June 19, 2025. Federation for the Protection of Industries
of Audiovisual and Multimedia Content (FAPAV)
Why it matters
“It is not only an economic or industrial problem but increasingly takes on a social connotation where the individual pirate becomes part of a criminal system, whose only objective is business. Deterrence remains an important lever to counter the phenomenon: the hope is that Piracy Shield can also be used to obscure, within 30 minutes, sites that broadcast not only live sporting events but also movies and series/fiction of first viewing,” said Federico Bagnoli Rossi, President of FAPAV.
“On the one hand, therefore, it is necessary to work, together with the Police, the judiciary and the Institutions, to combat any form of piracy, applying quickly and effectively the rules that our country has endowed itself, also becoming a model for other European nations.”
