Piracy could result in $113 billion loss for streaming services by 2027

Piracy is projected to expand to new heights in one of the most popular forms of entertainment consumption — streaming services.

By 2027, there is a projected loss of $113 billion for streaming video providers serving U.S. customers due to content theft, according to a report from research firm Parks Associates.

Parks’ latest forecast reveals piracy rates for U.S. streaming services in film and television programming will increase from 22% in 2022 to 24.5% in 2027. This increase will also bring an estimated $700 million value of fraudulent advertising delivered online to consumers that same year.

Looking back at the COVID lockdown, the company found that visits to pirate-hosting websites increased by 31% in 2020 alone.

“While there is some optimism that emerging countermeasures and best practices may see piracy begin to plateau by 2027, there is no consensus among stakeholders as to when it may begin to decline,” said Steve Hawley, a contributing analyst at Parks. “This research provides a much-needed understanding of the issues at hand and the technologies and approaches available to fight piracy.”

Research leads the firm to believe that password sharing will be a niche of piracy that service providers will be specifically focused on reducing in coming years. Parks found a whopping 48% increase in participation of sharing account credentials among consumers since 2019.

However, it has noted that attempts by streaming services to block password sharing will diminish user experience. Alas, networks are continuing their efforts. Netflix announced Tuesday plans to expand its crackdown on password sharing with paid-sharing plans in the second quarter of this year. Variety