9 in 10 Spaniards downloading illegally!

[Ethan]

Online piracy is setting records in Spain, causing serious harm to the creative and digital content industries, with 2014 almost 88 per cent of all online cultural content being accessed illegally, according to research carried out by the consultancy GfK on behalf of Spanish creative industry coalition.

According to the study – Observatorio de la piratería y hábitos de consumo de contenidos digitales 2014 – 84 per cent of Spaniards accessed illegal content online in 2013 while that figure rose to 87.94 per cent in 2014.

Findings suggest that in total during 4.455 billion items were accessed illegally, with a market value of €23.265 million. The total value of lost profits from piracy both in physical format as online is estimated at €1.7 billion.

Illegal downloads are distributed: Music, 24 per cent; movies, 38 per cent; video games, 11 per cent; books, 11 per cent; series, 26 per cent; and football, 18 per cent.

In terms of attitudes to piracy, one in two consumers who access illegal content justifies their activity saying: “I pay my for my Internet connection”. Moreover, among the reasons offered include “Speed and ease of access” (46 per cent), “I do not pay for content that I may not like” (39 per cent), “I’m not hurting anyone” (19 per cent) and “No legal consequences for those who pirate, nothing happens” (19 per cent).

In terms of accessing illegal content, seventy-eight per cent of Internet users use high-speed connections that allows access to content, with almost 40 per cent would decrease their Internet connection if unable to download.

Search engines were established by the study as a key source of accessing illegal content, rising from 46 per cent to almost 72 per cent, with Google used in 9 out of 10 pirate downloads.

Over 71 per cent of the sites from which content was accessed the are illegally funded by advertising. Of this, nearly 70 per cent were betting sites and online gaming, nearly 43 per cent dating sites and over 33 per cent adult content.

Over a third of advertising on pirate sites related to luxury consumer brands, fashion, insurance, telephone, etc., which the Observatorio suggests confirms the urgent need for greater collaboration between industry and advertisers to improve the online advertising ecosystem.

According to the Observatorio, the impact of piracy on employment brings even more disturbing figures for cultural and content industries: in a sector which currently employs 62,652 direct employees, a piracy-free scenario would create 29,360 new direct jobs, representing a 47 per cent increase, and some 100,000 indirect jobs.

The study also suggests that in 2014, piracy deprived public funds of €343.7 million in VAT and €219.3 million in contributions to Social Security and almost €65 million in income tax, a total of €627.8 million due to illegal accessing of content.

Assessing the football market for the first time, the Observatorio noted that 18 per cent of Internet users access games illegally access, with only 6 per cent doing so legally. Among the reasons given for accessing games illegally are: “Access through other systems is very expensive” (72 per cent), “Players and earn a lot of money” (68 per cent) and “Watching football without paying doesn’t hurt my team” (46 per cent), or “anyone” (45 per cent). These reasons are supported, according to 33 per cent of users, “Everyone else does”.

The study found that the most effective measures against piracy according to Internet users would be to block access to a website that provides content and develop social awareness campaigns, both measures with 65 per cent. After those two, according to consumers the best measures to reduce violations would be to punish both operators and Internet Service Providers (59 per cent) together with infringing users, along with fines (53 per cent) or restricting their Internet use (37 per cent).

Carlota Navarrete, director of the Coalition, said: “These findings confirm the urgent need to implement to the fullest extent the newly amended [copyright] legislation.”