According to a study published by Arcom on Thursday May 23, 50% of young people aged 15 to 24 consume sports programs illegally. Why this trend? A regular on illegal streaming platforms answers us.
This May 23, theThe Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) has published a study on the consumption of sports programs.
Thus, 11% of French people say they use illicit means to consume sporting events. But the most striking result concerns the age group of 15 to 24 years: almost 50% of young people watch sport on illegal platforms.
Connor* is one of those fans of streaming without constraints. This 24-year-old from Dijon watches sporting events every month. “I’m not the biggest sports consumer”he begins. “But I follow the big football matches, like the Champions League or the Europa League, or some big Ligue 1 matches. I also like to watch the big boxing or MMA fights.”
A one-off consumption which should nevertheless cost him a lot of money every month, if he decided to watch the programs by subscribing to the broadcasters: “I had already watched and to have access to everything I want to watch, it would cost me around €30 per month, or even more as the rights to the programs that interest me are with different broadcasters. But all that to have access to 90% of other events that don’t interest me at all. Whereas here, I have everything in one application for literally 0 €.
And this famous application, available on the AppStore or the Google Play store, is Telegram. It is with a cheerful voice that Connor speaks about this software: “It’s just an app that you install on your phone or your computer. Afterwards the only slightly complicated part is finding a channel. It’s a link that you can find quite easily on the networks, you just have to manage to have the one who broadcasts the content you want to watch and then you subscribe And that’s it For example, I’m just one guy who broadcasts everything I want to watch, from football to boxing. by the MMA The programs are live on the channel, it’s fluid, it’s comfortable, in good quality… I don’t see any disadvantage in that.”
Telegram is Connor’s preferred platform for watching sports programs for free.
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© NIKOLAS KOKOVLIS / NURPHOTO
Before the democratization of Telegram in France for live broadcast content, it was mainly an encrypted messaging service similar to WhatsApp. For the 24-year-old, before 2021, there were many more downsides to illegal streaming: “Before I discovered Telegram, I had one or two sites where I watched football. They were slightly dodgy names like streamfoot.org or names like that. You had to click several times for the broadcast to play. lance. It crashed often, there were advertisements that popped up every 5 seconds and frankly it was a hassle to follow a match on that.”
If we only count the programs that interest Connor, the bill actually amounts to more than €30. On the other hand, he explains that he subscribes to three different platforms for less than €30 in order to watch content such as series or films.
For him it’s an obvious choice: “I live as a couple with my girlfriend, she doesn’t watch sports, so “the question is quickly answered” as they say. We choose to subscribe to platforms that offer content that we can both watch. In addition “All in all, it’s a lot cheaper. I’d rather go watch a big match at the bar with friends from time to time and watch the rest quietly at home on Telegram, rather than paying huge sums to three different broadcasters.”
If watching a program on a streaming platform that does not hold the rights is indeed illegal, Arcom’s sanctions mainly target entities that distribute and host illegal content. There is therefore very little chance that Connor will one day receive a warning letter from Arcom, let alone a fine, for watching live content on Telegram.
“In the end with the prices of broadcasters, even if I take a fine, it’s more profitable”
Connor24 year old Dijon resident
“A letter from Arcom for just watching a match? I honestly don’t believe it”he replies with serenity. “Already, Telegram is encrypted and I don’t think they can share this kind of information about their users. Then it’s mainly the people who send the links on the channels that could jump, but even that, I think that it’s complicated in itself, even if the prices were much lower and with more comprehensive offers, I don’t think I would take out a subscription as long as I can watch everything for free so easily.
*The first name has been changed to maintain anonymity.
