TV and movie piracy is thriving. This is quite apparent from the number of visitors piracy sites see. The top sites, such as The Pirate Bay, Kinogo.club and Fmovies.is, see 62.21 million, 36.78 million and 26.35 million unique monthly visitors, respectively. Most of them are difficult to prosecute because they constantly change their names. This is despite the efforts of groups such as the International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy, Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, and the Media & Entertainment Services Alliances working with law enforcement agencies around the world, such as the Interpol and FBI.
In 2021, TV piracy accounted for 50.3% of the overall piracy traffic, with 127 billion US TV show episodes being watched or downloaded illegally. In fact, over 230 billion people across the world watch pirated TV shows and movies each year. This is despite all the warnings consumers get about accessing piracy sites and how it can compromise their sensitive data and even make them liable for criminal prosecution.
The result of all this is that major Fortune 500 firms spent $100 million on advertisements about piracy in 2020. Unfortunately, piracy is still on the rise despite all these efforts, with the online TV and movie industry expected to continue to lose revenue to pirates worldwide. Experts predict that these losses could amount to $51.6 billion in 2022, rising to more than $67 billion by 2023.
The Rising Threat of Piracy
The top three countries in Europe accounting for the maximum number of people accessing unauthorised IPTV are the UK, France and Germany. In the Asia Pacific, more than 50% of viewers watch pirated streaming sites. This number rises to 66% in the Philippines.
Source: Digital TV Europe Industry Survey 2021
Increasing efforts to fight piracy, such as forensic watermarking and a push for police action did lead to the biggest pirate streamer, Modbro, being shut down in March 2021. It was seen as a huge victory for anti-piracy, given that the streaming services operated across three countries, with their content having been downloaded over 100 million times, generating profits well ahead of €5 million for the criminals.
The problem is that such isolated attempts are not enough. The entertainment industry still reports a rising threat of piracy with data released by MUSO showing that there were about 33.6 million visits to piracy sites for TV content in the first 4 months of 2022 alone.
The rise in digital and streaming consumption in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic has played a role in this rise in piracy. Content producers have been looking at alternate ways to distribute movies and TV shows, such as direct-to-consumer initiatives, VOD and IP-based distribution. With this shift, piracy no longer involves someone making a poor copy of a movie with a camcorder. They are now distributing high-quality versions of fresh content, sometimes even before they become available to the public.
The UK recorded the dubious achievement of rising from the sixth place to the third position in terms of TV show piracy from 2021 to 2022. Piracy is also rising in Australia as consumers switch to pirated content due to cost-of-living pressures and tight household budgets.
Source: TorrentFreak
Netflix lost close to 1 million subscribers between April and July 2022. This could be because content from this streaming service now accounts for 16% of all piracy traffic. So, the time is ripe to consider an effective solution to protect your intellectual property.
How to Limit Piracy
“It is important to fight and fight again, and keep fighting, for only then can evil be kept at bay though never quite eradicated.”
– Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
As Dumbledore (or, should we say, JK Rowling?) aptly put it, we can't wipe out crime completely, but we can certainly limit its impact. For instance, if consumers have access to the content they want, quickly and affordably, through legitimate means, why would they look for illegal sources? But this cannot always be possible for content creators and distributors, who need to cover their costs too.
So, the time now is to think about investing in piracy-detection technology. Here are some things you could start right away to protect your content.
Educate the Consumer
Millennials and Gen-Zers reportedly access the most pirated content, with 70% of online users finding nothing wrong with online piracy and 34% of Gen-Zers using stream-ripping. So, the need is to highlight that piracy is a crime. This includes password sharing, which millions of subscribers to streaming services engage in worldwide. Since everyone else is doing it, it doesn’t seem that much of a crime. So, viewers need to be reminded that not only is piracy illegal, but it robs the content creators of their deserving earnings. This could then limit their ability to provide entertaining content. On the other hand, using piracy sites exposes viewers to malware and other types of cyber threats.
Raise Barriers to Entry
Just like you want to make it easier for consumers to access legal content, you need to make it difficult for pirates. So, protect your intellectual property with powerful digital rights management tools. But there isn’t any single technology that can ensure optimal success. This is why a multi-disciplinary approach is recommended, which looks into both identifying threats and enforcement.
The Power of Technology
You need to deploy tech solutions right from the pre-transmission stage of your content. Cybercriminals, including pirates, are using sophisticated technology to hack into your ecosystem. You need an equally powerful, if not stronger, means to protect yourself. This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) can come to the rescue. An algorithm + human hybrid approach could be the best way to ensure early detection of breaches and take swift action.
In fact, with pirates even stealing real-time streaming, such as live sports, time is of the essence. A solution that ensures real-time monitoring and live analytics is the only way forward.
Mediastalker offers unique AI/ML solutions to protect online TV and movie content against piracy. Our plug-and-play software solution enhances the speed and accuracy of security measures while ensuring real-time monitoring and threat identification. This allows us to take action before any damage is done. Our clients gain access to live data and analytics so that they can see how their assets are being protected in real-time.
Contact us to learn more.
