Data collected by the 2019 Observatory of piracy and consumption habits for digital content in Spain found that access to lllegal content fell by 5% in 2019, for a cumulative drop of 17% since 2015; according to a 2020 report released in September.
Book piracy was highest, at 33%, followed by movies (31%), music (30%) and series programming (26%) and several other categories. Total value of pirated content was estimated at nearly 31 Billion Euros.
More than 90% of sites that present illegal content are financed by advertising. 52% of this advertising comes from online gambling and betting sites, compared with 37% from online sales. 32% of piracy sites present advertising from prestigious consumer brands.
The report estimated that piracy cost Spain 20,000 jobs, and a loss of 440 million euros in VAT and more than 53 million euros in personal income tax, while the amount not collected by Social Security reached almost 180 million. It also estimated that piracy cost an cumulative total of almost 4.7 Billion euros since 2012.
The report is a collaboration between the consultancy GfK, the Coalition of Content Creators and Industries, and the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports, which conducted 3,031 interviews and made more than 9,000 observations via devices with onboard tracking software.
Access the report (Published in Spanish)
Read the synopsis (Translated to English via Google Translate)
Read synopsis in the original Spanish
Why it matters
“The protection of content and intellectual property on the internet is essential for the future of a highly productive sector,such as that of cultural industries, but also for economic recovery, job creation, the international competitiveness of our country or digital training so necessary, ultimately, for our future. Therefore, we consider that ending the illegal offer of content is an urgent strategic challenge,” said Carlota Navarrete Barreiro, director of La Coalición.
Despite the 17% reduction in piracy for 2019, “(anti-piracy) procedures are still not as agile as they should be, the resources allocated are very scarce at a human and technical level,and the pandemic has reawakened the monster again reality and we demand a firm commitment evidenced in the provision of resources and the adoption of urgent concrete measures,” said Barreiro.
