The Streaming Wars’ Forgotten Front: Piracy

Last Weekend Edition - See you on September 6th

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While the industry obsesses over bundling, streaming fatigue and who gets the top row of the smart TV UI, piracy has taken a backseat in the race to build the next D2C darling. That’s a mistake. Because in 2025, piracy is more accessible, more seamless and more professional-looking than ever.

According to UK Piracy Measurer Muso, global piracy dropped by 5.7% in 2024 but under the surface, the picture’s more nuanced:

• TV remains the biggest category with 96.8B visits, though it declined 6.8%. Anime is still surging, now making up nearly 28% of TV piracy.

• Publishing piracy is the only sector on the rise, up 4.3% to 66.4B visits. Manga drives over 70% of that, fuelled by fan translations and the global popularity of serialised reading.

• Film piracy fell 18% to 24.3B visits.

• Music and software piracy both dropped sharply (–18.6% and –2.1%, respectively).

• Streaming vs download? It’s a 50/50 split. And 60% of piracy comes from users going direct to sites, search engines are less of a driver now.

The revenue losses are hard to pin down though. In the US (the number one pirate market according to MUSO’s latest report), the US Chamber of Commerce puts the cost of digital piracy to American businesses at nearly $77 billion a year. Meanwhile, a March 2025 report from the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) warns that much of the piracy data out there is inflated.

To get under the skin of this quiet crisis, I spoke to Lau Zuydervelt, Solutions Director: Anti-Piracy & Cybersecurity at Irdeto.

If you still picture pirates as hoodie-clad basement dwellers, you’re missing the plot. Today’s piracy economy is pro-grade. It includes slick UIs, integrated payment options, mobile-first interfaces and live sports offerings with surprisingly decent uptime. There are even “customer support” features for those bootleg IPTV services. Some consumers genuinely don’t realize they’re using an illegal platform.

Zuydervelt also calls out the rise of “hybrid users”, people who do pay for at least one legit service but also dip into piracy to fill the gaps. It’s not always about dodging costs. Sometimes the content just isn’t available legally in their market. Anime fans, for instance, are notorious for turning to pirate platforms when the latest show hasn’t made it to their region yet, despite big investments from the likes of Netflix and Crunchyroll.

So what’s the fix? It’s not a silver bullet. Technical takedowns and anti-piracy measures help. Real impact comes when you combine enforcement with business strategy.

During the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Irdeto didn’t block pirate streams immediately. Instead, they monitored activity, collected intelligence and struck when it would hurt most (i.e. during the high-stakes matches). That kind of enforcement has real-world impact: pirates lose reliability and some users go back to the legal feed simply to avoid disruption.

The good news? AI is already helping scan and identify infringing content faster, making real-time enforcement possible during live events.

The better news? You can dig even deeper into this topic with the help of today’s Streaming Made Easy guest.

See you on Sept. 6th for a new Saturday edition of Streaming Made Easy.

Why attend Streaming Made Easy Live? No panels, expect value-packed presentations (on a range of topics: from AI, the creator economy to content discovery & bundling) and networking opportunities.

This event is for you if you’re a commercial or strategy lead, a product or tech decision-maker, at a broadcaster, streamer, telecom operator or CTV platform.

Submit your registration request via this link: https://lu.ma/w86bc5on

1st companies attending include: A1 Group, all3media, ATP Media, BBC, BBC Studios, BritBox, Channel 4, DTG, Endemol Shine Australia, EO/NPO, Euro News, France 24, Futrhood Media, Google, YouTube, HbbTV, Infosys, KOCOWA, LG Ad Solutions, Liberty Global, Media Distillery, MediaKind, Netflix, NPO, OKAST, Omdia, Orange, Play Anywhere, Inc., Premier League, Proximus, Rakuten TV, Rights Stuff BV, Roku, Sky/Comcast, SkyShowtime, Sling TV, Streamline, StreamTV Show, SVT, Swipefinder, Telenet / Streamz, Testlio, TF1, The Trade Desk, Tivu S.r.l., TVREV, VIDAA, Warner Bros Discovery, Webedia, Whale TV, Xite, Xperi, and Zattoo.

Here’s what the day will look like: