More than a third of Portuguese youth watch sporting events illegally

According to a study published this Monday, around 17% of Portuguese citizens have accessed or streamed content from illegal digital sources to watch sporting events. This percentage rises to 34% among young people aged 15 to 24.

At a European level, a study by the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) found “significant trends” related to online piracy of live sports, with 12% of the total population accessing or streaming content from illegal online sources.

“Bulgaria is the country where this practice is most common in the EU, with 21% of all respondents admitting to using illegal online sources to watch sporting events, followed by Greece (20%), Ireland (19%), Spain (19%) and Luxembourg (18%),” he clarifies.

According to the study, young citizens aged 15 to 24 reported illegal access to online sports events at twice the rate of the general population.

Bulgaria again stands out, being the country where young people are most exposed to illegal sports broadcasts (47%), well above the EU average (27%), followed by Spain, Greece (both with 42%), Slovenia ( 39%) and Ireland. (34%).

“Streaming” is considered the most popular method of accessing illegal television content, with 58% of piracy in the EU occurring through streaming and 32% through “downloading.”

But illegal broadcasts don’t just affect sporting events: if you take into account piracy across all media in the EU, covering all types of content (including sports), the EUIPO estimates that €1 billion in illicit revenue is generated annually.

At a time when the European Football Championship is underway and other major sporting events such as the Tour de France or the Paris Olympics are approaching, the EUIPO chief executive quoted in the statement stresses that it is “crucially important to play”. clean” for both the players on the field and the spectators at home.”

“The intellectual property rights that underpin these events protect and enhance the experience for our fans, support our athletes and inspire future European and world champions. By watching official broadcasts and purchasing licensed products, we ensure that our amateur sport continues to thrive for generations to come,” says João Negran.

In sports, beyond the broadcast rights for major events, intellectual property is everywhere, from iconic Olympic rings to the names and images of top athletes, competitors’ sports equipment or competition officials’ mascots and items.

According to the EUIPO Youth and Intellectual Property Scoreboard, an average of 10% of young people in the EU admit to having knowingly purchased counterfeit sports equipment, with the practice more common among young Greeks, where the figure reaches 18%.

Around 8% of Portuguese young people aged 15 to 24 years have deliberately purchased counterfeit sports equipment online.

EUIPO calculations show that sales of counterfeit sports equipment in the EU result in a total loss of €851 million per year, equivalent to 11% of total sales in the sector.

France, Austria and the Netherlands record the highest monetary losses, amounting to hundreds of millions of euros each, but proportionately, Romania, Lithuania and Hungary are the countries hit the hardest, with counterfeit sports equipment accounting for up to 20% of total sales losses. in every country.