Entertainment industry grapples with 215 billion visits to pirated sites

Anti-piracy authorities say they have cracked down on illegal streaming of movies and TV shows, but figures suggest the practice is booming, with 215 billion visits to illegal websites last year.

Figures from UK-based MUSO, which the company claims is the most comprehensive, show data on piracy sites will increase by 18% between 2021 and 2022, covering 480,000 movies and TV shows.

“Acquiring illegal content is as easy as ever,” said CEO Andy Chatterley.

The entertainment industry isn’t giving up.

It recognizes that previous efforts have backfired. Hefty fines for individuals who download a few movies make them look like corporate bullies, and court-ordered blocking of sites is usually a waste of time.

These days, they’re focusing on big fish—in the words of Stan McCoy of the Motion Picture Association, which represents Hollywood studios, “people buying supercars with the millions of dollars they make off bootleg sites.”

It formed the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) in 2017 to coordinate anti-piracy efforts with other industry groups around the world. It is responsible for tracking large operators and alerting the police.

In 2023 alone, ACE has helped shut down operators in Spain, Brazil, Germany, Vietnam, Egypt and Tunisia, each with millions of monthly subscribers.

The group claims to have achieved tangible results, measured in jail terms for operators and reduced choice for users. In the US, the number of illegal subscription services has decreased from 1,443 to 143, ACE said.

– make excuse –

But free entertainment is still easy to find.

It took only minutes for an AFP reporter to Google a list of illegal streaming sites and access the latest episodes of hit shows “Inheritance” and “White Lotus” without any registration or payment .

Many are content pirates, undeterred by the crackdown.

The 1.2 million members of the r/piracy discussion board on Reddit have every possible justification for their hobbies, from the cost of legal streaming sites to inaccessibility in some countries to vague anti-capitalist invective.

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Some have put it bluntly: “I don’t have any excuses. I can afford it if I want to, but I’d rather just save for my own retirement than donate money to a media company CEO who makes a thousand times what I make,” Reddit user ScarecrowJohnny wrote.

One factor currently dominates: the explosion of streaming options, with content now distributed across increasingly expensive subscriptions from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO, and others.

Reddit user Jaydra wrote: “I used to pay for one or two, but now there are 50 goddamn things, everything in the world costs more money almost every day, so I’m back to piracy.”

The watchdog was unmoved.

“People are always making excuses for piracy. It used to be that there weren’t enough options — now there are too many,” McCoy said.

– ‘A lot of progress’ –

Ironically, as the streaming environment fragments, MUSO’s piracy data has become one of the most accurate ways for media companies to gauge which movies and shows are actually popular.

Last year, the most popular movies were “Spider-Man: Nowhere to Return” and the TV version of “House of the Dragon” – 95% of views now come from illegal streaming, rather than downloading as in the past.

“Piracy is actually the largest VOD (video on demand) platform in the world,” Chatterley said.

“No platform bias, no cost bias, no access bias. You see what people actually want to see.”

“We’ve had customers see what’s trending on pirate sites and go and buy it on their platform.”

Since eliminating piracy is unrealistic, perhaps the industry’s most important goal is to make sure it doesn’t become the norm.

“We’ve come a long way to make it easier,” McCoy said. “If people are committed to breaking the law, they will. But it should be a fringe activity, not mainstream.”

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