The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) is a well-established trade association for the video industry and ecosystem in Asia Pacific. Its annual reports continue to provide a good high-level read on the issues surrounding the media & entertainment industry space, including its trends; including with piracy. The report also provides a wealth of statistics about pay TV reach and consumer video usage.
AVIA characterized 2025 as a year of change and consolidation, in which the concerns of the media and entertainment industry that are expressed in the political sphere are now being transformed into policy commitments by administrations and regulatory bodies. The need to deal with digital piracy and illegal content has been a timely catalyst for to move such initiatives forward.
AVIA’s key observations for 2025 were:
- The piracy narrative now includes cybersecurity and consumer harm.
- Platforms are shifting from passive to proactive enforcement.
- Regional cooperation is deepening through coalition alignment
- Government engagement is maturing.
Piracy trends
After years of collaboration with Meta, Google, and TikTok, AVIA research found that piracy on social media and messaging platforms has declined. Emerging challenges include AI-driven piracy, decentralised streaming networks, and coordinated cyber threats. In addition, ISDs and pirate sites remain a serious concern across the region, and notably in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Building on its research in 2024 in Taiwan on the wider risks of piracy via illicit streaming devices (ISDs), AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) released a further study, ‘Assessing Fraud and Data Exposure Risks to Consumersfrom Popular Sites and ISD/Apps Across Asia’, which revealed that piracy services not only enable rampant piracy but pose systemic cybersecurity threats.
Findings revealed that consumers face multi-layered risks, including payment fraud, identity theft, ransomware, and account takeover and transactions through informal processors or bank transfers leave users with no legal recourse. Identification of pirate sites remains key to CAP’s enforcement program
Piracy in Indonesia
Indonesia’s Asosiasi Video Streaming Indonesia (AVISI) reported that the piracy threat has evolved in that country. No longer confined to illicit websites, piracy has found a new home on legitimate digital platforms, hiding in plain sight. Analysis shows that digital platforms and app stores have become key conduits for this activity.
By hosting generic IPTV player applications — which, when paired with illicit playlists, are overwhelmingly used for enabling copyright infringement — they provide a primary access point for piracy, and are readily available in commercial app stores.
According to YouGov research conducted for AVIA, 52% of consumers admit to accessing pirated content. To address this, AVISI is appealing to two key groups: to TV App Store operators, including Tizen, WebOS, Android TV, Apple TV and others; and to code repositories such as GitHub.
Focus on AI
As an emerging focus, AVIA observes that governments are focusing on a desire to tap into AI, which has led to considerations around copyright exceptions for Text and Data Mining (TDM), which have been increasingly featured in various consultations across the region, such as Hong Kong and India.
“We will strive to promote an increasing recognition that OCC services cannot be treated like social media platforms and that copyright must remain central to any framework regulating AI’s access to content or fostering industry growth,” said AVIA Chief Policy Officer Clare Bloomfield.
Similar exceptions for AI had been discussed in the UK but as of January 2026 had not been adopted. Such exceptions are also defined in Articles 3 and 4 of the EU’s Digital Single Markets directive. But as things stand today, unlicensed TDM remains illegal.
The AVIA Video Industry Report contains a section by Hong Kong broadcaster TVB, about the use of AI to identify instances of potential infringing use. These include:
Analyzing text content via Natural Language Processing, to detect language patterns associated with piracy
- Examining source code using code analysis tools to discern coding patterns that facilitate unauthorized streaming or downloading
- Understanding Web site structures and linking patterns
- Visual content analysis to identify copyrighted images
- Integrating multi-modal AI to combine multiple data types simultaneiously, to provide a holistic view of a Web site’s legitimacy
Each of these areas is detailed in the report. Using these guidelines, TVBI identified 1,328 new pirated websites in 2025, which were added to TVBI’s database as blacklisted websites. As of late 2025, TVBI’s database identified more than 100,000 pirated websites.
AI regulation in India
India’s regulators are addressing synthetically generated information and the misuse of generative AI and deepfake technologies. A proposed framework shifts from reactive takedowns to anticipatory compliance, requiring intermediaries and significant social media platforms to detect, label, and verify synthetic content to retain safe harbour. An expert panel is currently reviewing the Copyright Act to address generative AI.
Lack of standards
AVIA also characterizes piracy and anti-piracy as an ‘existential battle.’ In the report, AVIA observed that there is still no standard to measure advertising in the premium (paid) streaming environment. While some common best-practices have emerged around detection and mitigation, the same can be said for anti-piracy.
Why it matters
AVIA is an interlocutor for the industry with governments across the region, leads the fight against video piracy through its Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) and provides insight into the video industry through reports and conferences aimed to support a vibrant video industry.
Further reading
The Asia Video Industry Report 2026 (PDF). Annual industry analysis for APAC region. December 2025. Asia Video Industry Association
Should the UK open copyrighted works to unlicensed data mining, to train AI platforms? Article. June 6, 2025. by Steven Hawley. Piracy Monitor
