Russians are increasingly choosing illegal channels to download movies, books, music, and games - the market for pirated services has grown by more than 100% over the past six years.
This is according to RBC, citing data from the InterMedia agency's report "The Economics of Culture in Russia." According to the material, data on the number of links to such resources, their traffic, and the average cost of advertising for their key advertisers were used to analyze the illegal content market. The market volume has grown significantly in recent years: from 5.2 billion rubles to 12 billion rubles. The study covers six years, including the pre-pandemic years, when the world was not so immersed in online services of various kinds.
In 2018, the volume of the Russian market for illegal services was only 5.2 billion rubles, in 2019 - 5.4 billion rubles. The year 2020, when Russians, following the rest of the world, were locked in their homes and apartments by coronavirus restrictions, and spent a lot of time on laptops, computers and smartphones, gave pirates an increase of 11%, to 6 billion rubles.
In 2021, restrictions were eased, but "total remote work" remained, and users seem to have strengthened their habit of watching concerts and movies online. Illegal services increased turnover by 17%, to 7 billion rubles.
Over the next two years - 2022 and 2023 - this market grew by as much as 71.4% - from 7 billion rubles in 2021 and 10 billion rubles in 2022 to 12 billion rubles in 2023. The departure of major players from the legal market in 2022, such as the American streaming service for films and series Netflix or the Swedish service for audio and electronic books Storytel, helped Russian pirates in this.
