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In just a couple of years, the income of pirate services in Russia almost doubled and exceeded 10 billion rubles. Their wild popularity and rapidly growing revenue are a consequence of the departure from Russia of dozens of companies creating software and various content.
For some - restrictions, for others - easy money
Anti-Russian sanctions, which hit millions of Russians, still brought benefits to some of them, and significant ones at that. As RBC writes with reference to InterMedia analytics, pirate services have flourished in Russia - their income, rushing into space, by the end of 2023 successfully exceeded the threshold of 10 billion rubles.
According to the statistics provided, in 2023 the total income of such resources reached 12 billion rubles. For comparison, in 2021 they earned 7 billion rubles, that is, over two years their income increased 1.7 times or 71.4%.
Of course, pirate resources do not publicly display their financial results, as, for example, large public companies do. InterMedia specialists based their analytics on data on the number of links to pirated content, as well as traffic on these portals and the average advertising cost of their main advertisers.
Not only more, but also faster
12 billion rubles. on illegal content in a year is an achievement in itself, but it should be noted that the growth rate of income of pirated sites in Russia is truly colossal.
For example, if you look at the results of the peaceful year 2020, when Russians faced only mass layoffs due to coronavirus and forced self-isolation, but did not feel the consequences of February 24, 2022, then at that time the growth in revenue from pirated services was at the level of 11% compared to 2019 in 2021, resources distributing unlicensed content recorded a 20% increase in revenue compared to 2020.
Who is guilty
The reason for the growing popularity of services is simple and logical. InterMedia experts, as well as third-party experts interviewed by the publication, associate what is happening in this market primarily with the departure of foreign copyright holders from Russia against the backdrop of Western sanctions.
Having left the Russian market, they took with them their numerous content - films, cartoons, music, which Russians liked. At the same time, these companies do not supply their new products to Russia, but the Russians also need it.
In the current situation, the only way to access the necessary materials is through pirated sites. They do not depend on the decisions of Western authorities and companies, and on them Russians are very likely to find the film they need or the album of their favorite artist.
In addition, in Russia, at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century, almost a cult of pirated content developed. This concerned primarily software, but also affected media content. Only at the beginning of the previous decade did Russians begin to pay more attention to licensed music, software and films, but in light of current events everything has returned to normal. This is clearly evident from the reluctance of the country’s residents to overpay for licensed Windows when buying a laptop or desktop PC - it is easier and cheaper for them to download a pirated OS for free and install it themselves.
Don't watch or listen, but read and play
For legal resources, on the contrary, the income situation is not so rosy. For example, the market of Russian online cinemas in 2023 received only a 3 percent increase in revenue year on year – it amounted to 89.7 billion rubles.
But even this 3% is already an excellent result in modern realities, especially if you compare it with the figures for 2022. At the end of this period, market turnover shrank from 99.6 billion rubles. in 2021 to 86.9 billion rubles, that is, by 13%. Before the events unfolding southwest of Russia's borders, the Russian online cinema market was showing approximately 33 percent annual growth in volumes.
Legal audio streaming in Russia is not in the best situation at all. 2020 brought them total revenue of 9.5 billion rubles, and at the end of 2022 it collapsed to 7 billion rubles.
However, 2023 promises to be more successful for such services - the InterMedia report says that they can easily count on 7.8 billion rubles. total revenue. However, these indicators are very far from pre-crisis values - even the Covid-19 year of 2020 brought them significantly more money.
At the same time, the book industry, which showed negative revenue growth in 2022, turned positive by the end of 2023 - according to analysts, sales of audiobooks, as well as their electronic and classic paper counterparts, will bring in 100 billion rubles. versus 99.8 billion rubles. a year earlier.
Growth was also demonstrated by the official video game segment – sales at the level of 156 billion rubles. in 2023, whereas a year earlier it was 149 billion rubles.
“Russian services are not making enough profit for three reasons. Firstly, people are accustomed to Western services and do not want to lose their accumulated media library, so they continue to pay for subscriptions through intermediaries. Even some Russian mobile operators have the opportunity to buy a subscription to popular streaming services,” Evgeniy Perov, product director at the corporate messenger Compass, told CNews. – Secondly, the amount of content in Russian services has decreased significantly - some copyright holders are withdrawing their content. People are forced to go to other services to get all the content they need. Thirdly, all new products are mainly released on foreign services. In Russian they don’t come out at all or come out very late. Therefore, users return to services that left Russia.”
For some - restrictions, for others - easy money
Anti-Russian sanctions, which hit millions of Russians, still brought benefits to some of them, and significant ones at that. As RBC writes with reference to InterMedia analytics, pirate services have flourished in Russia - their income, rushing into space, by the end of 2023 successfully exceeded the threshold of 10 billion rubles.
According to the statistics provided, in 2023 the total income of such resources reached 12 billion rubles. For comparison, in 2021 they earned 7 billion rubles, that is, over two years their income increased 1.7 times or 71.4%.
Of course, pirate resources do not publicly display their financial results, as, for example, large public companies do. InterMedia specialists based their analytics on data on the number of links to pirated content, as well as traffic on these portals and the average advertising cost of their main advertisers.
Not only more, but also faster
12 billion rubles. on illegal content in a year is an achievement in itself, but it should be noted that the growth rate of income of pirated sites in Russia is truly colossal.
For example, if you look at the results of the peaceful year 2020, when Russians faced only mass layoffs due to coronavirus and forced self-isolation, but did not feel the consequences of February 24, 2022, then at that time the growth in revenue from pirated services was at the level of 11% compared to 2019 in 2021, resources distributing unlicensed content recorded a 20% increase in revenue compared to 2020.
Who is guilty
The reason for the growing popularity of services is simple and logical. InterMedia experts, as well as third-party experts interviewed by the publication, associate what is happening in this market primarily with the departure of foreign copyright holders from Russia against the backdrop of Western sanctions.
Having left the Russian market, they took with them their numerous content - films, cartoons, music, which Russians liked. At the same time, these companies do not supply their new products to Russia, but the Russians also need it.
In the current situation, the only way to access the necessary materials is through pirated sites. They do not depend on the decisions of Western authorities and companies, and on them Russians are very likely to find the film they need or the album of their favorite artist.
In addition, in Russia, at the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century, almost a cult of pirated content developed. This concerned primarily software, but also affected media content. Only at the beginning of the previous decade did Russians begin to pay more attention to licensed music, software and films, but in light of current events everything has returned to normal. This is clearly evident from the reluctance of the country’s residents to overpay for licensed Windows when buying a laptop or desktop PC - it is easier and cheaper for them to download a pirated OS for free and install it themselves.
Don't watch or listen, but read and play
For legal resources, on the contrary, the income situation is not so rosy. For example, the market of Russian online cinemas in 2023 received only a 3 percent increase in revenue year on year – it amounted to 89.7 billion rubles.
But even this 3% is already an excellent result in modern realities, especially if you compare it with the figures for 2022. At the end of this period, market turnover shrank from 99.6 billion rubles. in 2021 to 86.9 billion rubles, that is, by 13%. Before the events unfolding southwest of Russia's borders, the Russian online cinema market was showing approximately 33 percent annual growth in volumes.
Legal audio streaming in Russia is not in the best situation at all. 2020 brought them total revenue of 9.5 billion rubles, and at the end of 2022 it collapsed to 7 billion rubles.
However, 2023 promises to be more successful for such services - the InterMedia report says that they can easily count on 7.8 billion rubles. total revenue. However, these indicators are very far from pre-crisis values - even the Covid-19 year of 2020 brought them significantly more money.
At the same time, the book industry, which showed negative revenue growth in 2022, turned positive by the end of 2023 - according to analysts, sales of audiobooks, as well as their electronic and classic paper counterparts, will bring in 100 billion rubles. versus 99.8 billion rubles. a year earlier.
Growth was also demonstrated by the official video game segment – sales at the level of 156 billion rubles. in 2023, whereas a year earlier it was 149 billion rubles.
“Russian services are not making enough profit for three reasons. Firstly, people are accustomed to Western services and do not want to lose their accumulated media library, so they continue to pay for subscriptions through intermediaries. Even some Russian mobile operators have the opportunity to buy a subscription to popular streaming services,” Evgeniy Perov, product director at the corporate messenger Compass, told CNews. – Secondly, the amount of content in Russian services has decreased significantly - some copyright holders are withdrawing their content. People are forced to go to other services to get all the content they need. Thirdly, all new products are mainly released on foreign services. In Russian they don’t come out at all or come out very late. Therefore, users return to services that left Russia.”
