The IPO has published the eleventh edition of its tracking study into the extent of online copyright infringement, digital behaviours and attitudes among people aged 12+ in the UK.

This continues work originally commissioned by Ofcom and sponsored by the IPO in 2012. The study is conducted annually to ensure that the IPO can monitor the impact of new online platforms on infringement behaviours.

Key findings include:

• consumption (i.e. downloading or streaming/accessing content online) increased across several categories, most evidently in streaming/accessing where all categories were at the highest point seen in the study so far; there were smaller increases in those downloading music, film and TV, although in most cases the proportion doing so was still below that seen in the pre COVID-19 peak;
• as in the 2020 lockdown, passion for content categories continued to be important to respondents with many indicating that the content categories asked about were central to their lives;
• the main drivers for online consumption were the choice/variety of content on offer, being able to access it immediately and the cost; and

the overall level of infringement for all content categories (excluding digital visual images) was 25%, which is 2% higher than the previous year but the same as in four of the previous five years. To access the study in full, click here.