“The reality is that many people have one or even two streaming platforms, but not all,” Chatterley says. “The problem with piracy is that it's really just people who want to consume the content. They're not doing it for piracy. They're doing it for other things that promote legitimate consumption. It’s driven by marketing.”
think about the last of us. Although this was a show that reflected the cultural zeitgeist, Max can't really be seen outside of the United States. The show airs in the UK on the likes of Sky and is available for purchase through Amazon Prime Video and other services, but these may be a hindrance if pirated streams exist. (This may explain why, but the last of us It was also the most pirated show in the U.S., but it only accounted for 19% of the top 10 shows' streams and downloads, instead of 25%. )
Shows and movies are now bouncing from service to service at a headache-inducing rate, with illegal streaming sites often being the surest way to find content. Some of the most pirated anime shows —Jujutsu Kaisen, my hero academia, and more – available on services like Hulu and Crunchyroll, but for years piracy was the best way to access non-Asian anime. Anime is also often distributed to legal streaming services after its initial broadcast date in Asia, at which point it is already available on pirated sites.
But Muso's animated numbers tell a different story, Chatterley said. “The strong global demand for this type of content can only be measured through piracy data, as it is not widely available legally.”
Movies are a little different. Demand for them tends to spike immediately after release and then decline. In the second half of 2023, movie piracy decreased by 24.6% compared to the first half. Muso estimates that this is mainly due to fewer blockbuster releases in the second half of the year. In this case, even if the movie is available in theaters, going to the theater is still too expensive for some people, so piracy becomes the best option.
Above all, Muso's findings show that despite expectations to the contrary, streaming has failed to deter piracy. Paying for the services out there has become almost as expensive as the cable networks that torrenters were trying to use almost 20 years ago. Copyright infringement is now commonplace and shows no signs of slowing down.