Piracy on the rise again (2)

Piracy: $113 billion in losses by 2027?

U.S. streaming video providers could lose $113 billion to content piracy by 2027, according to a report from Parks Associates.

According to the report, movie and TV show piracy will increase from less than 22% today to more than 25% in 2027, reversing the downward trend of the last decade. In fact, it’s the hacking of streaming site passwords that pirates are most likely to focus on. Europe and the Asia-Pacific region have more piracy per capita, but it is the US and India where piracy is highest overall.

India is one of the countries most affected by piracy. This is due to the combined influence of Anglo-Saxon culture, its own highly popular film production (Bollywood movies) and low per capita income. Combined with the country’s large population and the strong growth of its young population, India represents a major challenge for content creators, producers and distributors.

After a spike due to the Covid 19 pandemic and a decline as the situation returned to normal, piracy is on the rise again: in 2023, visits to online piracy sites reached 141 billion, an average of 386 million visits per day, an increase of 12% over the previous year.

Piracy on the rise in Europe

These worrying predictions are not limited to the US. In fact, a 2023 study by EUIPO, the European Union’s intellectual property agency, shows that online piracy is on the rise after several years of decline. The efforts of recent years appear to be being reversed at a time when streaming sites are seeing their growth slowed by a combination of rising subscription prices, a multiplication of possible subscriptions and a significant increase in desirable content, all compounded by the debate over data storage.

TV shows and series are pirated the most (48% of all content in Europe), but piracy of live events is also on the rise. The trend observed in recent years continues: illegal streaming sites are the most popular (58% of piracy), while downloads represent an increasingly residual share.

There are also clear differences between countries: piracy is very common in Estonia or Latvia, but in Poland, a country with a strong geographical and cultural presence, piracy represents less than 5% of the total content viewed. In Greece, for example, 25% of the content consumed is pirated, while in Italy the rates are low. It is therefore difficult to find a geographical logic for this distribution.

Countries also differ in the amount and type of content consumed. Piracy is most common in Estonia and Latvia, while it is relatively rare in Germany and Italy. There are also different preferences for the type of content. In Greece, for example, movie piracy accounts for 25% of total piracy volume, while in Poland it’s only 5%.

The return of music piracy?

Thanks in large part to a steady stream of paid services like Spotify that offer access to a huge catalog at reasonable prices, the music business seemed to be more or less out of danger when it came to piracy. But last year, in 2023, for the first time in nearly a decade, music piracy actually increased rather than decreased. Although the increase was only a slight 13%, it seems that the development of software for downloading YouTube content in particular is a continuing trend in piracy.

What are the solutions?

Currently there seems to be no other solution than for companies involved in the creation, production and distribution of copyrighted content to understand the reasons and patterns of piracy and to adapt their business models to these changes.

For the time being, technical and legal barriers are proving to be relatively ineffective; consequently, only solutions aimed at removing content from illegal sites and carefully monitoring the evolution of these pirate sites appear to be viable solutions for stemming the subsequent loss of revenue.

A specialized company with trained staff and the right tools can help you effectively combat content piracy and put you back in control of your revenues. If you have a movie, series, software or e-book to protect, don’t hesitate to take advantage of our services by contacting one of our account managers. PDN has been a pioneer in cybersecurity and anti-piracy for over a decade, and we’re sure to have a solution that can help you. We look forward to putting our expertise to work for you. Enjoy reading and stay tuned for a new summer theme in August!

Share this article

INVESTIGATION AND
TAKEDOWN

LIVE EVENT
PROTECTION

BRAND PROTECTION

IPTV ANALYSIS