In Russia, illegal audio, video and book services increased by 71.4 percent in the last two years, reaching 12 billion rubles in 2023. These results, presented in the report “Russian Cultural Economy” by the InterMedia agency, indicate a noticeable increase in the size of the entertainment market. While illegal services are increasing, official audio and video streaming platforms are stagnating.
InterMedia data shows that online cinema turnover decreased by 13% in 2022, from 99.6 billion rubles in 2021 to 86.6 billion rubles in 2022. In 2023, an increase of only 3% reached 89.7 billion rubles. Legal voice services, which were growing before 2020, have declined and have yet to return to pre-crisis levels.
The book industry has shown steady growth for two years, reaching 100 billion rubles in 2023, compared to 99.8 billion rubles in 2022 and 63.4 billion rubles in 2021. Sales of board games also increased slightly, reaching 25 billion rubles in 2023. But physical media sales for film and music continue to decline.
Evgeny Safronov, president of InterMedia, states that due to constant consumer demand, Western cinema and music have moved from the legal sphere to the illegal sphere. He also emphasizes that “piracy” remains profitable for global IT monopolies and that the effectiveness of combating it remains low as the public struggles to access creative content.
Source: Ferra
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