Illegal streaming of movies and TV shows reached 215 billion site visits last year, despite claims by anti-piracy authorities that they had clamped down.
Britain-based MUSO, which boasts the most complete statistics on pirate websites, forecasts an 18% growth between 2021 and 2022, spanning 480,000 films and TV series. “It’s as easy as ever to get illegal content,” said CEO Andy Chatterley. Entertainment will continue.
It acknowledges past failures. Targeting individuals with enormous penalties for downloading a few movies made them appear like corporate bullies, while court orders to shut websites were often a whack-a-mole waste of time.
“People buying supercars with the millions they are making out of piracy sites,” says Stan McCoy of the Motion Picture Association, which represents Hollywood studios.
It founded the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) in 2017 to coordinate anti-piracy efforts with other industry organizations worldwide. It finds major operators and alerts cops.
With 215 billion illegal downloads, the entertainment business is struggling.
ACE shut down operators with millions of monthly subscribers in Spain, Brazil, Germany, Vietnam, Egypt, and Tunisia in 2023. The organization alleges jail penalties for operators and fewer user alternatives. ACE reports a decline from 1,443 to 143 illicit subscription services in the US.
Free entertainment is still plentiful. An AFP reporter found the latest episodes of “Succession” and “White Lotus” on unauthorized streaming sites in minutes.
Many content pirates ignore crackdowns. 1.2 million Reddit users justify their habit with everything from the expense of legal streaming services to difficulty of access in specific areas to nebulous anti-capitalist diatribes on the r/piracy discussion board.
Disarmingly honest: No excuses. “I could afford to pay for it all, but instead of giving my money to some media company’s CEO who makes a thousand times what I do, I’d rather just save the money for my own retirement,” stated Reddit user ScarecrowJohnny. The expansion of streaming alternatives, including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, HBO, and others, dominates.
“I was paying for one or two, but now there’s 50 of the damn things and everything in the world costs more practically every day, so I went back to piracy,” stated Reddit user Jaydra. Watchdogs are unimpressed. Piracy always has an explanation.
“There’s too much choice now,” McCoy added. Ironically, as streaming fragmented, MUSO’s pirate data has become one of the most accurate methods for media corporations to determine which films and series are truly popular.
Last year’s top films were “Spiderman: No Way Home” and “House of the Dragon,” and 95% of views now came through illegal streaming rather than downloads. Chatterley stated piracy is the world’s largest VOD platform. No platform, expense, or access prejudice. You watch what people want.” “We have clients who buy what’s popular on piracy websites.”
The industry’s main priority should be preventing piracy from becoming normalized since removing it is impossible. “We’ve made a hell of a lot of progress to make it less easy,” McCoy added. “People who want to break the law will. It should be marginalized, not mainstream.”