In just over six months, there were over 56 million illegal viewing acts, compared with 42 million paid tickets to movie theatres. Interestingly, consumers under 35 prefer to go to the cinema more than do those in the 35-49 and over-50 age groups.
During the period from September 2023 to March 2024, 47 titles were examined and the behavior of the public was studied between those who chose to go to the cinema and those who preferred to pursue the illegal path.
Nearly all of the top ten films ranked by ‘piracy rate’, are related to the horror, action and family genres. For every ticket sold for the theater, at least 2.5 viewings were through illegal channels.
CinExpert’s report for the first half of 2024 found audiences to be 53% male and 47% female. Attendance grew by almost 6% compared to the similar period of 2023. Compared with the previous year, the two segments with the fastest growth were 3-14-year-olds (up 39%) and over-60s (up 25%). Decreasing were the 25-34-year-old and 35-49-year-old segments (by (-8% and -17% respectively).
The data comes from Cinetel’s CinExpert ITALIA Report for the 1st half of 2024, and the results of the Focus Piracy 2023-2024 created together with FAPAV. CinExpert is a weekly monitoring of the sociodemographic characteristics of the audience in the room made by Ergo research for Cinetel, which is a joint venture of Italy’s Associazione Nazionale Esercenti Cinema (ANEC) and Anica Servizi S.r.l. FAPAV is the Federation for the Protection of Industries Audiovisual and Multimedia Content, also based in Italy.
Further reading
Data of the CinExpert Italy Report, with the Focus Piracy 2023-2024 report. Press release. July 26, 2024. FAPAV (Federation for the Protection of Industries
Audiovisual and Multimedia Content)
Why it matters
“More than 56 million acts of illegal viewing in just over six months is a very worrying fact because it highlights how the phenomenon of piracy also affects theaters, first where the public meets the film, thus penalizing the entire audiovisual sector as a whole,” said Federico Bagnoli Rossi, President of FAPAV.
“In addition to the necessary enforcement actions and the implementation of the new anti-piracy law, with the application of the timeliness of the action to block offenses through AGCOM (Italy’s media regulator) also to other audiovisual content, including the first film viewings. As a Federation we continue to promote awareness-raising activities and education campaigns in support of legality,” he said.
Continuing in that effort, the second edition of “We Are Stories”, a series of commercials directed by Nicola Conversa and starring some young professionals who tell how their love for the audiovisual has pushed them to realize their dreams, will be launched in Venice during the next International Film Festival.
“Piracy… has a strong impact on the attendance of the public in theatres, where you can share unique and exciting moments. … It is fundamental to prevent piracy from continuing to be a serious brake on the industrial and economic development of our country,” said Mr Bagnoli Rossi.
