ITALY’S PIRACY EPIDEMIC: 4 IN 10 WATCHING FILMS AND SPORT ILLEGALLY

Piracy has become normalised for four out of ten adult Italians who now consume unlicensed services.

According to a Fapav-Ipsos report, in 2024, 38% of Italians used audiovisual content illegally. The figures represent the loss of €2.2 billion in turnover, an estimated loss of €904 million and over 12,000 jobs.

“It is not just 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,”

said Federico Bagnoli Rossi, president of Fapav.

While the February 2024 introduction of the so-called Piracy Shield has helped – the blunt instrument has managed to take down legal streams as well as the illegal ones – it applies only to sport, leaving movies and series available to the domestic hackers.

“The new regulation from AGCOM regarding a 30-minute block is producing initial results. There is still much to be done, but the path taken is the right one. We are convinced of this, and in the next report, we will have specific data. This slight contraction does not overall diminish the seriousness of the phenomenon, which remains alarming, especially in terms of the economic damage caused to audiovisual and sports industries, as well as to the economic and employment system of our country”.

The cost is put at €61 million in lost admission fees, translating to damages of €530 million, a figure that rises to €778 million when the impact on legal subscriptions is included.

Source: broadbandtvnews.com