The decline for seven consecutive years allows the industry to speak of “a hopeful turning point”
Digital piracy in Spain fell by 8% in 2021 and has decreased by 20% since 2018. It is the seventh consecutive year of decline, marking a “hopeful” turning point. And that the digital pirates caused the industry a loss of almost 2,300 million euros. Although in 2021 the volume of illegal cultural products amounted to 5,334 million entries, with a market value of 32,492 million euros.
The sector most affected is music, with 38% of consumers, followed by books (34%, 1% more than in 2020), films (25%), newspapers (23%), series (20%), video games (18 %), magazines (16%), football (9%) and sheet music (5%).
The state treasury stopped receiving $653 million, bringing the cumulative loss to the administration over the past decade to nearly $6,000 million. In 2021, 416 million in VAT, 54 million in personal income tax and 183 million in social security contributions were stopped.
The study ensures that, without piracy, 18,716 new direct jobs could have been created by 2021, representing an increase of 18.5%, adding to the indirect 112,299 additional jobs.
The industry regrets that 9 out of 10 pirates turn to Google for illegal access to content and that access via Telegram (33%) or WhatsApp (31%) is “significantly” increasing. The comparison congratulates the increasing blocking of access to websites with illegal content, which is still the most effective measure (77%). 52% of consumers who tried to access illegal websites found they had closed or no longer existed, and were redirected to torrent portals (53%), social networking pages (23%) or messaging groups (14%).
In addition, the number of users who have paid for illegal content rises to 24%, also allowing payment through less transparent methods such as Paypal (44%) or cryptocurrencies (11%).
Ads continue to fund more than 90% of illegal content portals, especially betting and online games (45%), contacts and dating (32%), and leading brands (31%).
The largest decrease in the volume of illegally consumed content in 2021 occurred in films, which experienced a 21% decrease compared to 2020, i.e. 520 million compared to 659 million in 2020. In terms of market value, the decrease was not so pronounced (7%): 5,524 million euros compared to 5,937 in 2020 or 6,191 in 2019.
Illegal serial consumption decreased by 6%. For example, digital pirates have gained access to 940 million content ranging from 22 to 21%, while those who have watched series in legal digital format are 75% (74% in 2020).
Last year, 570 million illegal accesses to books were recorded, compared to 581 recorded in 2020; the volume of illegally obtained video games decreased by 7% and 39 million illegally downloaded music scores were registered, an increase of 15% compared to 2020.
As for football, the study indicates that in 2021, when the league normalized after the pandemic, illegal portals allowed 88 million matches to be watched, 24% more than in the previous year. The market value of these downloads amounted to 254 million euros, representing a loss of 201 million.
“I am proud to announce that we have reached the turning point in the fight against piracy,” boasted Carlota Navarrete, general manager of the Coalition of Creators and Content Industries, who this Wednesday, together with Culture Minister Miquel Iceta, launched the Observatory. of piracy and consumption habits of digital content 2021, prepared by the consultancy Gfk.
“We will continue to increase the number of troops to fight piracy, it is worth repeating the figures coming from the study over and over again. They lose 2,271 million euros,” emphasized Miquel Iceta.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
