A September 2026 report, The Price of Piracy, commissioned by anti-piracy advocate BeStreamWise and produced by WPI Economics, estimates that pirated content across sport, film, and television wipes £1.35 billion from the UK economy annually.
The report also estimates that about a third of UK adults admit to have used illegal streaming within the past three months, with 27% accessing creative media content and 18% accessing live sports through illegal channels.
More than half of those aged 18-24 admit active illegal streaming, compared with just 11% of those over 65. Nearly twice as many households with children access illegally, as do houseolds without children (40% vs 23%).
The report also details the motivations for piracy including availability and affordability, immediate outcomes such as revenue losses to industry and government and cybersecurity risks to consumers; and wider impacts to industry and the economy.
Losses to the creative economy
That loss is roughly equivalent to 4,200 fewer jobs in broadcasting and media production, and an additional 6,200 fewer jobs across connected sectors such as advertising, publishing, retail, and the wider creative economy.
Piracy also deprives the Exchequer (the UK’s Economics and Finance ministry) of £366 million in tax revenues, enough to pay for 9,400 qualified NHS nurses, 140 million free school meals or 43 million funded childcare hours.
The report is a cross-industry initiative designed to raise awareness of the dangers of illegal streaming also reveals the dire consequences of illegal streaming on jobs in broadcasting, media production, and other creative industries.
BeStreamWise is an anti-piracy campaign by media and entertainment stakeholders that include broadcasters, media companies, sports organizations, and industry groups that call on government and the wider industry to take coordinated action against the availability and visibility of illegal streaming services, while helping consumers understand the risks.
Recommendations
The report recommends that the UK Government do more to raise consumer awareness alongside existing fraud-prevention activity, work closely with industry to make illegal services harder to find and access; and to share insights as to piracy trends and their impact with consumers.
The authors also recommend policy directives within the UK’s Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST) or Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to help reduce consumer exposure to harm and provide a practical foundation for ongoing collaboration between industry and Government.
Why it matters
According to the UK government, the film and television production sector contributed £23.5 billion to the UK economy in 2024 while the sports sector contributed over £20 billion during the same time period. The same sectors employed over 800,000 people in 2024
Illegal streaming is a direct constraint on the growth potential of the UK’s creative industries. It reduces the incentives for investment into domestic UK production, puts jobs at risk across the film and TV sector, and has knock-on impacts on the broadcasting, film and sports industries. At the same time, consumers are providing personal identification and payment details to criminals when signing up to illegal streaming services, opening themselves up to increased risk of fraud, scams
and theft.
The economic, personal and societal costs of illegal streaming are significant.
“This report should act as a wake-up call: intellectual property theft and illegal streaming is a serious threat and urgent action is needed,” said Sir John Whittingdale MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Intellectual Property. “It provides concrete evidence that piracy costs the UK economy more than £1 billion every year and jeopardises thousands of creative industry jobs. It also directly exposes consumers to the risk of fraud, with some individuals losing thousands of pounds (£).
Liz Bales, Chief Executive at the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE), added that “We have spent almost two decades working closely with the industry to tackle infringement and educate consumers on the safest way to enjoy the films and TV shows they love, but as viewing habits and piracy tactics continue to evolve, this increasingly requires a more integrated approach.”
Further reading
The Price of Piracy. Hidden Costs of Illegal Streaming to the UK Economy. Report. September 2026. WPI Economics / BeStreamWise
Illegal streaming: The UK economy’s billion-pound blocker. Press release. September 1, 2026. BeStreamWise
