Millions of Europeans Watch Illegal Sports Event Streams, Led by Youth

This year, Europe is the epicenter of all sports events. The world is preparing to watch spectacular goals during UEFA EURO 2024, photo finishes at the Tour de France, and moments of winning gold medals at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.

However, while Europeans prepare to watch the most popular sports broadcasts, millions of them can do so illegally. According to an EUIPO survey on the perception, awareness, and behavior of European Union citizens, 12 percent of EU citizens accessed sports content from illegal sources or streamed it. Even more than a quarter (27%) of young people aged 15 to 24 admit to using illegal online channels to watch sports.

– While we enjoy numerous sports thrills this summer, it is crucial to play fair, both for players on the field and viewers at home. The intellectual property rights behind these events protect and enhance our experiences as fans, support our athletes, and inspire future European and world champions. By watching official broadcasts and purchasing licensed products, we ensure the development of sports and sporting competitions for generations to come – stated EUIPO Executive Director João Negrão.

Major Events, Major Opportunities for Fraud

In addition to the broadcasting rights of major sports events, intellectual property (IP) is everywhere: from iconic Olympic rings and the names and likenesses of top athletes to the sports equipment of competitors, official mascots, and event souvenirs.

Money, millions of viewers, and consumers attract fraudsters. Illegal online streams are possible for all types of content, including sports events, and the EUIPO estimates that piracy, across all media, generates one billion euros in illegal revenue annually.

Illegal live event streaming is an existential problem for sports funding. Revenues generated through intellectual property rights are redistributed to sports and athletes based on solidarity.

– If fans watch illegal streams of sports events, the entire model of Olympic solidarity is put at risk. Media rights would lose their value, and thus their holders would cease to acquire those rights, which brings enormous consequences for the solidarity funding model of the entire Olympic movement – said Emma Terho, Chair of the Athletes’ Commission of the International Olympic Committee, during the EUIPO conference on combating online piracy of sports and other events.

In addition to sports broadcasts, according to EUIPO data, the sector of sports equipment in the EU suffers losses of 850 million euros annually. This figure does not include sports clothing such as counterfeit football jerseys and counterfeit sports shoes, which represent a significant portion of the annual losses from counterfeit clothing in Europe, amounting to 12 billion euros.

Youth Illegally Stream Sports Content

The EUIPO survey on the perception of intellectual property revealed significant trends across the European Union related to the pirated streaming of sports events, where 12 percent of the total population accessed or streamed content from illegal online sources.

Bulgaria ranks first in the EU with 21 percent of total respondents admitting to using illegal online sources to watch sports, followed by Greece (20%), Ireland (19%), Spain (19%), and Luxembourg (18%). According to the survey, young people aged 15 to 24 illegally watch sports broadcasts online twice as often as the total population. Young Bulgarians are the most likely to engage in illegal streaming of sports events, with as many as 47%, significantly above the EU average (27%), followed by Spain (42%), Greece (42%), Slovenia (39%), and Ireland (34%).

According to the EUIPO survey on copyright infringement on the internet, streaming is the most popular method for accessing illegal TV content – 58 percent of piracy in the EU occurs through streaming, and 32 percent through downloading.

Counterfeit Equipment – An 850 Million Euro Problem

According to the EUIPO report on intellectual property and youth, an average of 10 percent of young people in the EU aged 15 to 24 admit to having intentionally purchased counterfeit sports equipment, with this being most common among young people in Greece, where 18 percent did so. On the other hand, 7 percent of young European consumers have accidentally purchased counterfeit items.

The impact of this counterfeit sales in the EU is significant, and according to EUIPO estimates, it causes a total loss of 851 million euros annually, or 11 percent of total sales in that sector. France, Austria, and the Netherlands report the highest losses, each in the hundreds of millions of euros. In terms of proportional impact, Romania, Lithuania, and Hungary suffer the most, with counterfeit sports equipment accounting for up to 20 percent of total lost sales in those countries.

Counterfeiting has serious economic and social consequences. In addition to revenue loss and job destruction, as evidenced by another recent EUIPO study on the economic impact of counterfeiting in the clothing, cosmetics, and toy sectors in the EU, companies suffer from damaged reputations due to lower-quality copies, and European economies are experiencing increased skepticism about the safety of investing in innovations, which poses a significant threat to the further development of a healthy economy.

Fake products also pose serious health risks to consumers and do not meet European health, safety, and environmental protection standards. As noted in the EUIPO and OECD study on hazardous substances, counterfeit sports equipment can fail at critical moments and contain toxic or dangerous ingredients.

Fighting Pirated Content

There are several methods for placing unauthorized content on the internet, including illegal subscription services and free online streams supported by advertising revenue. Operators use sophisticated techniques to evade detection, often using legitimate content distribution services. Even in the case of events broadcast on free channels, such as the Olympic Games or the final rounds of the UEFA championship, online piracy still exists.

Across the European Union, countries and affected parties are fighting against the pirated transmission of events by relying on regulations and technology to block illegal online services. The European Commission has issued two recommendations: one on combating online piracy of sports and other live events, establishing a network of dedicated national authorities, and another to combat counterfeiting through increased enforcement and awareness-raising, to which EUIPO contributes through dissemination, implementation, and monitoring.

Additionally, efforts to combat piracy include raising awareness so that consumers can find legitimate digital content. Agorateka, a tool developed by EUIPO, helps viewers identify legal offers for online content, including sports events.

Fake Star

As part of the operation Fake Star – an initiative focused on counterfeit goods of well-known brands, police authorities across Europe have discovered and seized 8 million counterfeit luxury and sports goods, more than half of the total 14 million seized counterfeit items in 2023. Counterfeit sports goods included fake textiles, footwear, labels, leather goods, and accessories, including sports shoes and clothing, with a retail value estimated at 120 million euros. The Fake Star operation led to the arrest of 264 individuals in connection with counterfeiting.

During the operation, 552,611 pairs of shoes, 1,140,343 pieces of sports clothing, and 5,497,460 fake labels with logos were discovered. The seizures confirm that many counterfeit products are completed in Europe, where counterfeit logos are applied to unmarked products. In uncovering the chains of counterfeiting, the operation also revealed other serious crimes, such as organized crime, smuggling, fraud, and money laundering.

The Fake Star operation is led by Spain (Policía Nacional) with the support of Greece (Hellenic Police), under the coordination of Europol, with active participation from agencies and bodies from 18 countries.