Enders Analysis has published a new analysis about video piracy which concludes that “Industrial scale theft of video services, especially live sport, is in the ascendance… A complete overhaul of the technology architecture, licensing, and support model is needed. Lack of engagement with content owners indicates this a low priority.
“Big tech is both friend and foe in solving the piracy problem. Conflicting incentives harm consumer safety by providing easy discovery of illegal pirated services, and reduced friction through low-cost hardware such as the Amazon Firestick,” said Enders Analysis.
The analyst firm presents the details of its study at the Media, telecoms and Beyond conference in collaboration with Deloitte on June 3 in London.
Meanwhile in the publishing world…
On May 29, The New York Times announced that it had entered into a licensing agreement with Amazon, to use NYT content “in the tech giant’s artificial intelligence platforms.” Rather than wearing trench coats and actively avoiding detection, the players have set an example in the light of day and should be congratulated.
This agreement takes a seat alongside other licensing agreements between AI platforms and publishers which include Axel Springer, Hearst, Conde Nast, Time Condé Nast, News Corp (The Wall Street Journal). Journalism should be compensated, especially in these times of disinformation.
Similar evolution
The music industry went through a similar evolution a decade ago. Remember Steve Job’s “Rip. Mix. Burn.” campaign when Apple introduced the iPod in 2003, a clarion call to music pirates at the time; a distant memory now supplanted by Apple Music, Spotify and others.
In the video industry, this evolution is still ahead.
Further reading
Video Piracy: Big tech is clearly unwilling to address the problem. Press release. May 30, 2025. Enders Analysis
Football and other premium TV bing pirated at ‘industrial scale.’ Article. by Graham Fraser. May 31, 2025. BBC
The Times and Amazon announce an A.I. licensing deal. Article. May 31, 2025. by Steven Hawley, Piracy Monitor
Why it matters
Today’s video piracy is an industrial-scale enterprise whose tendrils extend from video capture and transport to steal valuable content and services from every transfer point along the way, to the apps and browsers running on consumer devices, stealing user-created content and personal details that they believe are private.
