Laura Carollo
Research expert covering cinema and film
Media piracy in France - statistics & facts
Over the past few years, official anti-piracy bodies had seemingly cracked the code and successfully managed to reduce media piracy in France. Arcom (the regulatory authority responsible, among other things, for combating piracy in France) led the charge by requesting the closure of many domain names hosting pirated content in France. While general usage is indeed slowly decreasing after reaching its peak in 2017, France remains one the European countries with the highest share of internet users who had intentionally used illegal sources to access media content, along with Belgium and Malta. Why and how are French people consuming pirated media content? Is media piracy really a thing of the past?
Who consumes illegally and why
While streaming websites and direct downloading have historically been among the most used methods to consume digital media illegally, they are increasingly neglected in favor of live streaming. When asked why they did not turn to legal options, more than half of consumers reported that they were too expensive – a sentiment shared by many consumers worldwide, leading them to cancel superfluous subscriptions. Out of all media, movies were the most illegally consumed, followed by ebooks and audiobooks.Digital over physical
For almost all media, digital consumption is taking over physical; the online consumption of cultural goods rose sharply over the past decade in France. While 69 percent of internet users consumed at least one cultural product or service online in 2014, 87 percent of them did so as of 2023. Among these cultural goods, movies were again the more popular choice for 55 percent of consumers, ahead of music or music videos, and TV series. As of 2022, only 39 percent of French people did not own at least one subscription to a video-on-demand service, and France was one of Netflix’s leading markets that same year.Sports streaming: a new threat?
Although illegal consumption is on the decline overall, illegal viewing of sporting events, particularly via illegal live streaming, is still resisting attempts at regulation. With many sporting competitions coming up, such as the French Open, Euro soccer, and the Olympic Games, a non negligible share of Internet users planned to watch them illegally.
