The Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) is leading the fight against audiovisual piracy across Europe and the Middle East, supporting law enforcement and building partnerships to better tackle piracy. AAPA seeks to raise awareness in its efforts to discourage piracy. The organization has released its Illicit IPTV I Europe Economic Report for 2021 this week which indicates that the lowest rate of IPTV piracy is found in countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

This Report encompasses research on IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) piracy in Europe.

The aim of the report is to present reliable and up-to-date results of the magnitude of illicit IPTV, as well as to contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon. The economic analysis is carried out to estimate three key elements: Number of users accessing unauthorized IPTV content; Revenue generated by copyright infringing IPTV subscription providers; Potential losses in revenue incurred by legal Pay-TV providers due to unauthorized IPTV subscriptions.

The assessment has been carried out for the entire EU27+UK (former EU28)1 market, and for each individual economy. Due to the sensitive nature of the estimates the potential losses are provided for the aggregate EU27+UK only.

Estimates show that in 2021 nearly 17.1 million individuals (4.5% of the EU27+UK population) were using illicit IPTV services. The share is even higher among young Europeans – 11.8% of people aged 16-24 opted to access unauthorized IPTV. This represents nearly 5.9 million young individuals engaging in the use of unlawful IPTV in Europe.

The report estimates EUR 1.06 billion of unlawful revenue was generated by copyright infringing IPTV providers in Europe in 2021. On average, a single user spends EUR 5.22 per month to access IPTV content that is provided by unauthorized providers. Legal Pay-TV providers incurred potential losses in revenue of EUR 3.21 billion in 2021 due to pirated IPTV in Europe.

4.5% of the population, representing 17.1 million persons, is estimated to watch internet streamed TV (live or catch-up) from unauthorised online sources in Europe (EU27+UK) in 2021.

11.8% of the younger population (aged 16-24) are engaged in the consumption of illicit IPTV services in Europe. This population share represents nearly 5.9 million young individuals in Europe (EU27+UK) in 2021.

In the Netherlands 8.2% of the population use illicit IPTV: the highest share in EU27+UK market. Economies where IPTV piracy is high (ranging from 6% up to 8%) include Luxembourg (7.9%), Ireland (7.2%), Sweden (7.2%), Malta (7%), Denmark (6.8%), Finland (6.6%), the UK (6.6%), Cyprus (6.5%), Slovenia (6.2%), and Spain (6%).

Close to European average of 4.5% are Belgium (5.4%), Lithuania (5.3%), France (5.1%), Austria (4.9%), Estonia (4.4%), Czechia (4.4%), Germany (4.2%), and Hungary (4%). The lowest rate of IPTV piracy is discovered in Romania (0.8%), Poland (1.5%), Bulgaria (1.7%), and Greece (1.7). Other countries with below-average engagement in the illicit use of IPTV services are Italy (2.5%), Latvia (3.2%), Croatia (3.2%), Slovakia (3.4%), and Portugal (3.7%).

The entire report can be found here: https://www.aapa.eu/illicit-iptv-in-europe-an-aapa-economic-report