Over the course of 2024, researchers working with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), monitored more than 7,000 Web sites and nearly 400 apps, which generated more than 18 billion ad impressions. Most of these impressions originated from illegal sources, confirming that infringing platforms remain highly active and profitable advertising channels.
Internet websites and mobile applications that provide access to content, goods or services infringing intellectual property rights (IPR) on a commercial-scale use the sale of advertising space as one of their revenue sources. In addition to providing a revenue stream to IPR infringers, the presence of advertising for legitimate brands on websites and mobile applications that infringe IPR can confuse consumers. It can lead them to mistakenly believe that the website or application they are accessing provides access to legal content, goods or services.
To strengthen the protection of IPR and reduce the harm caused by its infringement, the European Commission sponsored a Memorandum of Understanding on online advertising and IPR (MoU), whose signatories represent parties involved in placing, buying, selling and/or facilitating advertising, including advertisers, advertising agencies, trading desks, advertising platforms, advertising networks, advertising exchanges for publishers, sales houses, publishers and IPR owners. They also include representatives or associations of these groups.
Research process
The EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) commissioned White Bullet to carry out the 2024 Ad Monitoring Exercise to assess the impact of the MoU on the online advertising found on IPR- infringing websites and apps during 2024, to evaluate the estimated amount and type of online advertising on IPR-infringing websites and apps, and to estimate the associated ad revenues. This commission is an extension of the work undertaken by White Bullet in 2021 for the EUIPO(2), and that undertaken by White Bullet in 2020(3) and the first half of 2019(4) on behalf of the European Commission.
Why it matters
Out of 7,250 Web sites that were monitored for infringing activity, 44 % were classified as Illegal Websites and 56 % as High- Risk Websites. Illegal Websites are those found to be illegal by national judicial, administrative or other enforcement authorities in the EU. High-Risk Websites have not (yet) been adjudicated in this way, but they are still verified as infringing and popular amongst EU consumers, including by White Bullet’s IPIPTM tool, or by rights holders.
Of 398 monitored apps, 60 % were classified as Illegal Apps, identified by the Trustworthy Accountability Group as having been confirmed by rights holders as IP-infringing and removed from official app stores – and 40 % as High-Risk Apps.
Further reading
Online Advertising on IPR-infringing Websites and Apps 2024. Landing page with link to Report. Released November 2025. European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
