A recent study by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) on "European Citizens and Intellectual Property: Understanding, Awareness, and Behavior" shows that the majority of European citizens consider it unacceptable to obtain digital content from illegal sources. Among the minority who continue to engage in piracy, 60% still purchase content from legitimate sources. In addition, the study also points out that more affordable prices and a wider range of services are the primary reasons why people stop using illegal sources.

This new study for 2023 aims to better understand European consumers' attitudes towards intellectual property and covers two dimensions: counterfeit physical goods and online digital content. The focus of this article is on the latter.

Most European citizens oppose the use of illegal content sources

Given the frequent and urgent calls from the entertainment industry to address the issue of online piracy, EUIPO's research paints a more positive picture in terms of attitudes towards illegal content.

The report states, "Generally speaking, most Europeans do not support obtaining digital content through illegal sources. Most people do not agree with various reasons sometimes used to justify piracy, such as the fact that piracy is acceptable for personal use only (65% disagree or tend to disagree); if the price of the content is too high (72%); or if the content cannot be obtained through legal sources (74%)

Consistent with most (if not all) recent studies, people's acceptance of piracy decreases with age. Although 19% of citizens aged 55-64 and 18% of citizens aged 65 and above believe that accessing content through illegal sources is acceptable if the price is too high, the acceptance rates among the 25-34 and 15-24 age groups have jumped to 41% and 46%, respectively.

When content cannot be obtained from legitimate sources, the acceptance rate of piracy among young people is also higher, reaching 44% among the age group of 15 to 24. However, the majority of Europeans (80%) indicate that they prefer to obtain content from legitimate sources if there are affordable legal options available.

In this regard, it is surprising that 69% of respondents believe that the quality and scope of content are better than what they currently obtain from illegal platforms.

14% of European citizens use piracy, but not limited to piracy

A study found that in the past 12 months, 43% of European citizens paid to obtain online content from legitimate services. Only 14% of people admit to using illegal sources during the same period, but not all of them are stubborn pirates. In this group, 6 out of every 10 citizens (60%) also purchase content from legal sources, while the remaining small portion only consumes content from illegal sources.

Among those who fully use legal sources, the main reason for not using illegal sources is that the content they want can be found on legal platforms (44%), and 40% of people say they would rather not use illegal platforms because it may cause harm to content creators.

The proportion of people who avoid using pirated websites due to the perceived danger they pose to themselves or others is relatively low, at 13% and 19% respectively. The proportion of people who are worried about being arrested and/or fined is even higher, at 24%.

Overall, 82% of respondents agree that illegally obtaining content poses a risk of exposure to harmful content, such as fraud or content that is not suitable for minors. Those who do not access content online (85%) are more inclined towards this idea than those who access content online (75%).

Sports content popular among pirates

Although 14% of Europeans reported obtaining content through illegal sources in the past 12 months, one type of content has been proven to have the greatest appeal.

12% of Europeans obtain sports content from illegal sources, and 11% say they use set-top boxes or downloaded applications. This once again indicates that the younger the pirates are, the greater their likelihood of illegally obtaining content.

The study points out that "obtaining content from illegal sources is much more common among young people in Europe than the European average. In the age group of 15-24, 33% of people reported intentionally using illegal online resources, 27% reported streaming content from illegal sources to watch sports events, and 25% reported illegally obtaining content using illegal streaming devices - all of which are more than twice the EU average

Places where Europeans obtain illegal content

Among Europeans who illegally obtain content online, over 40% (43%) indicate that they access it through specialized websites. About one-third (32%) of the respondents stated that they use social media to obtain content, with less than a quarter mentioning applications (23%). Point to point networks such as BitTorrent and specialized IPTV services are used less frequently.

The research report also points out that "there is no significant difference between different age groups or member states in terms of preferred illegal channels

Upload, share, and provide content to others

Given that 14% of Europeans have obtained content from unauthorized sources in the past 12 months, the overall proportion of uploading/sharing content with others at 11% seems relatively high.

Like those who download or stream content from illegal platforms, uploading content is more common among young people. Researchers have pointed out that in the age groups of 15-24 and 25-34, 25% and 21%, respectively, have uploaded/shared content in the past 12 months, with this number dropping to less than 10% in the age group of 44 and above.

The researchers added that there is a strong correlation between illegally obtaining content and illegally accessing protected content by uploading it: 42% of people who obtain online content from illegal sources also upload protected content, while only 6% of those who do not have illegally obtained content upload protected content.

Reasons and reasons for stopping pirated content

According to this study, those who use illegal sources to obtain content online are more likely than those who do not to believe that there are various reasons to justify such behavior. The main reasons for illegally obtaining content include "personal use" (71%), legal content being too expensive (68%), and content not being available on purchased legal services (65%).

Researchers point out that the impact of price and accessibility is reflected in the fact that the affordability and wider range of access to content from legitimate sources are the most important reasons why users from illegal sources stop using them (accounting for 43% and 37% respectively among Europeans).

According to the report, a better understanding of the harm caused by the use of pirated content to content producers or to employment and the European economy (22% and 21% respectively) is unlikely to deter people from using illegal sources.

(Compiled from torrent freight. com)