MUSO tracked more than 41 billion site visits during the January-to-June period. Of the top 15 countries in the number of visits, the top five were the US, China, Russian Federation, Brazil and Ukraine. Streaming sites were in the overwhelming majority, at 94%, which indicates the decline of torrent sites as an avenue to consume stolen content.
MUSO also identified top-ten pirated TV shows globally and for the UK and notes that the rate of piracy and therefore the rankings change on a day-by-day basis as new episodes of series programming are released
Read the details (via MUSO)
Why it matters
The ability to identify pirated video programming by title and location helps rights holders who want to exploit missed licensing or distribution opportunities in markets with “hidden” demand.
More controversial is the appeal to advertisers. On one hand, the theft of advertising for placement on infringing sites and apps can be seen as a waste of advertising expenditures because the ads are not traveling through legitimate channels. On the other hand, they want to reach these consumers and may not care how the ads ended up reaching them. Either way, ads seen through illegal sites and apps may also be avenues for pirates to gather personal information or inflict damage.
