After years of growth in legal video-on-demand (VOD) and online video, piracy in Spain continues to be a problem.
observatorio pirateriaDuring 2015, 63% of online content consumers used a pirate platform, increasing from 58% in 2014. Most illegal activities relate to series and films on demand and live football streaming.
The figures were published through the Observatorio de la Piratería, and relate to a report by analyst firm Gfk, supported by content creators and La Liga, Spain’s football association.
According to the report, Spaniards accessed 4.3 billion pirated downloads during 2015, with a market value of over €24 billion. Films (34%) and series (30%) were the most consumed content, followed by music (20%) and live football (11%).
The figures stand in a year in which Netflix has arrived in the country and HBO has announced plans to launch HBO Go. Meanwhile, more local video-on-demand platforms like Wuaki.tv or Movistar+ Series have increased both catalogues and availability.
Sports content, in particular football, has become exclusively premium and there are no free-to-air options as there were before. This appears to be contributing to the piracy problem, as 62% of consumers said original content was too expensive to pay for, while 55% said pirated content was quicker and easier to find and watch.
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