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Piracy Businesses

Pirated-Entertainment Sites Are Making Billions From Ads (bloomberg.com) 63

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Websites and apps featuring pirated movies and TV shows make about $1.3 billion from advertising each year, including from major companies like Amazon.com, according to a study. From a report: The piracy operations are also a key source of malware, and some ads placed on the sites contain links that hackers use to steal personal information or conduct ransomware attacks, according to the online safety nonprofit Digital Citizens Alliance and the anti-piracy firm White Bullet Solutions. While law enforcement officials have sought to stop some of the online criminality, the groups identified at least 84,000 illicit entertainment sites.

The study underscores just how tough a problem piracy is for both Hollywood studios and companies that distribute digital ads. The situation has been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has left more people watching films and television shows over the web, where criminals have a greater chance of successfully targeting victims. "Piracy causes direct harm to creators and others who lose income when their content is stolen," the authors of the report wrote. "And major brands face reputational risks when their advertising appears on illicit websites."
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Pirated-Entertainment Sites Are Making Billions From Ads More

Pirated-Entertainment Sites Are Making Billions From Ads

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  • Hardly (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nospam007 ( 722110 ) * on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:26PM (#61684731)

    People savvy enough to download IP without getting caught, also block trackers and use ad-blockers.

    • Re:Hardly (Score:5, Insightful)

      by slazzy ( 864185 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:43PM (#61684809) Homepage Journal
      Sounds like music industry math where every downloaded song is a million dollars lost... even though it's played on the radio for free.
      • Even if not, savvy users are not often victim to spyware, since they pirate on non-important machines to treat to their TVs

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by fazig ( 2909523 )
        Every copy as far as I remember.
        We've had this story here a couple of years ago: https://arstechnica.com/tech-p... [arstechnica.com]

        tl;dr just copy a song infinitely straight into /dev/null and cause the music industry infinite losses if their logic holds any water.
      • Pirate stream sites may be taking some money from cable, but pirated movies/tv have very little in opportunity costs, and exactly $0 in real damages. These guys can go find a rusty piece of rebar if they need to escalate from mental masturbation.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Revek ( 133289 )
      True, If those sites are making billions it will be just a rounding error on what the studios make.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by ozzymodus12 ( 8111534 )
      I agree. Maybe if they stopped producing trash quality movies they'd be making more money. I liked the marvel movies but I'd never pay for them. They had crap plots with massive plot holes. Star Trek movies? Loved the actors and the cgi but it was very clear they never watch the original series or even cared. The new Star Wars trilogy? I didn't think they'd make me hate Star Wars forever. They did . God damn. They actually made me hate Disney with the passion of a thousand suns. One day I gave up. Hollywoo

      • One can also pirate content, then, if it doesn't suck, buy it on physical media. That way you get the movie/show, and the creators get paid.

        In the long run, you also don't get shafted when the streaming service folds, or the content gets "edited" for political reasons, or to squeeze in more commercials, or because someone just wants to ruin it, like George Lucas is famous for. You can also rip it to your media box or transcode it to watch on your phone. Physical media is great.

    • Oh look at me, I went to a site link, or downloaded a piece of software and ran it. I am some great computer hacker!

      Here is the thing, you don't need to be really Savvy to download IP, and chances are you are not going to get caught doing it, because often getting caught you won't have the money to pay the fine anyways.

      However if I were the IP holder, I would target the advertiser, who is advertising on the heals of illegal activities. So they are complicate in the actions.

      Plus they have money to pay the f

      • However if I were the IP holder, I would target the advertiser, who is advertising on the heals of illegal activities. So they are complicate in the actions.

        Agreed. The only way to stop these evil pirates is to cut off their income. IP holders should be encouraging the use of ad blocking plug-ins. Throw some of that Hollywood money around to promote ad blockers or bribe Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox to enable ad blocking by default. That'll show those nasty old pirates.

    • Boy, that was a feeble FP. Feebly moderated as "Insightful", but still a feeble mumble.

      Lots of things to look for in a discussion on this topic. A couple of them were touched on, mostly tangentially. But mostly not at all.

      Most important omission is who runs the ad networks providing the money. That should point at the google and Facebook since they dominate online advertising, but somehow they got overlooked in the summary and the discussion. (The summary and the story do mention Amazon. Barely.) YouTube is

  • Revenue Stream (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:28PM (#61684735)
    You'd think for 1.3Billion in revenue major studios would find a way to tap into the "we want it free or dirt cheap" demographic, especially for areas they currently are not serving.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      You'd think for 1.3Billion in revenue major studios would find a way to tap into the "we want it free or dirt cheap" demographic, especially for areas they currently are not serving.

      Serving what? Ancient movies no one watches?

      $1.3b isn't a lot of money for hollywood. Even in 2020 alone, they still made over $80b across theatrical and streaming. And that's domestic takes only, if you add international it's double.

      So $1.3b in a year would be the theatrical takes of anywhere between 1-4 blockbuster movies, and

    • That amount lost to ads is a drop in the bucket for the major studios where a single movie can make that much. And if they offer a cheap alternative for the people who only want the content for free, everyone is going to just drop their paid subscriptions and go that route.

      • Doubt it will happen, with all the geographical segmentation they do, whereas a pirate streaming site will serve pretty much the whole world.

        Same reason why some shows are only available in certain countries via streaming (netflix, hulu, etc).

        Unless they decide to do international releases always, there will always be pirate streaming sites filling that niche.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by laktech ( 998064 )
      I doubt that's possible. The finale of the bachelor was three hours long and had one hour of commercials. It's not even about free or dirt cheap, it's getting your time back and shield your unconscious from advertisers. This is priceless. If you introduce a paid product that achieves these goals, you've essentially carved out a demographic that advertisers will pay massive amounts of money to target. Thus, you have a self-reinforcing system to maintain status quo. To be more concrete, the person in the mark

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mad7777 ( 946676 )
      Gosh, here's a novel idea... What if we could just pay for the movie/TV show we want to watch, instead of having to subscribe to a dozen different services to get the few shows and movies actually worth seeing? While we're at it, might it be possible to make movies available that aren't just the current blockbusters? Seriously, where does one go to find an old (as in more than 10 years old) movie these days? Oh, I know! Bittorrent.

      I think we used to have the tech for this... at Blockbuster. Maybe somebody

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        Gosh, here's a novel idea... What if we could just pay for the movie/TV show we want to watch, instead of having to subscribe to a dozen different services to get the few shows and movies actually worth seeing? While we're at it, might it be possible to make movies available that aren't just the current blockbusters? Seriously, where does one go to find an old (as in more than 10 years old) movie these days? Oh, I know! Bittorrent.

        But you can.

        You can buy TV show son DVD, movies are available on DVD, Blu-Ray

        • Except when you "buy" digital copies, you are only renting them until the IP holder pulls off that service. I usually buy movies rather than renting them as I tend to watch old films that are only a dollar or two more, but I've had a few now that Amazon has pulled off my list, and I'm back to pirating now because of that.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mad7777 ( 946676 )
          That's good to know. Of course, I haven't owned a DVD player in the last two decades. Also, I wouldn't be at all surprised if these services are blocked or crippled in my country.

  • Group consensus. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    This is Slashdot. You want the party line now, or later?

    Look posting this story is like going to Ponderosa and convincing everyone eating meat is wrong.

  • Piracy is a problem of the aughts, not today (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:39PM (#61684787)

    If people are pirating today with the highly available nature of on demand it means either

    a) you are pricing your content too highly and some people will pirate to save money but would purchase if they couldn't.
    b) they were always going to pirate and if they couldn't would not purchase it otherwise.

    Group (b) you have to live with, can't stop and wouldn't be counted as a lost sale as you would not have made it anyways. If you are really worried about group (a) then drop your costs in hoping to lure in more subscribers or renters.

    It's 2021, if you haven't "solved" piracy by now you simply won't based on the fact that I would easily say group (b) is 80% of people pirating it kind of is solved.

    Media companies just aren't satisfied with most of the profits, they feel entitled to all the profits, imaginary or otherwise.

    • Re:Piracy is a problem of the aughts, not today (Score:5, Insightful)

      by uffe_nordholm ( 1187961 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:54PM (#61684859)
      I have found a third reason to pirate things: there is no legal way to pa for what you want.


      A few years ago I discovered a for me new artist, that had already been dead for 5-20 years. I wanted this artist's music, and was prepared to pay for it. But no matter where I looked, it could not find it. Except of course on the bay of pirates. So of course I "pirated" the music, and I don't feel bad about it at all.
      • Coming from Canada, I wholeheartedly agree. There are two streaming services I would be happy to pay for, but one isn't available here at all and the other one only has the show I want in the US version.

      • A few years ago I discovered a for me new artist, that had already been dead for 5-20 years.

        But... but... without copyright that artist won't have an incentive to make more!

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by tepples ( 727027 )

          Slightly less cheeky: Without postmortem copyright, the author's estate would have no incentive to finish the author's unfinished works for publication nor to adapt them to newly invented media.

      • I have found a third reason [people might chose] to pirate things: there is no legal way to pay for what you want. [example: Dead artist whose music is no longer available]

        Another pathology is older work (or older versions of a work) that has been removed from circulation or butchered by deletion and/or alteration of scenes.

        Some recent examples include Warner Brothers' suppression of Pepe le Pew for alleged sexism and glorification of rape (to the point of destroying the original artwork) and Foghorn Legh

      • Search for "Disney vault". Locking up released copyrighted material goes against the idea of copyright, which is a social construct rather than an intrinsic right. BTW I'm against considering a private download from a non approved source "pirating". Let's call it "privating" instead.

      • I have found a third reason to pirate things: there is no legal way to pa for what you want.

        there's also a fourth: sometimes, the pirated version is the best version.

    • Bang on the money.

      Most people really don't want to resort to pirating content - it's a PITA and a total minefield, especially for those new to it.
      Yep, it's a textbook case of "first world problems" - "But I want to watch that show and it isn't available on my XYZ streaming service!"

      The thing is, the crazy thing is, that people are willing to go and buy an expensive coffee for like $3, $4, $5 each day - something consumed in 10 or 15 minutes, but balk at the thought of a new streaming service that may cost t

    • I think this is where Disney+ nailed it, they kept the cost reasonable.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mad7777 ( 946676 )
      You forgot group c:
      People who don't live in the Land of the Free and are therefore forbidden from viewing content because lawyers.

      And... group d:
      People who don't feel like subscribing to a dozen different streaming services just to get the few shows and movies worth seeing.

      Oh, and let's not forget group e:
      Those who simply can't find a move/TV show anywhere, because it isn't a blockbuster current release. I have no idea where to find episodes of MASH, for example, for legal streaming.

      Gosh, here's

  • Funny smell (Score:5, Insightful)

    by chispito ( 1870390 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:41PM (#61684801)
    This smells like a study commissioned for use as ammunition for takedowns and regulatory lobbying. Probably uses Hollywood Accounting [wikipedia.org] in reverse.

  • You mean like YouTube? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:41PM (#61684803)

    How many countless billions is YouTube itself making from people just uploading pirated content? There is A LOT of stuff up there.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ac22 ( 7754550 )

      Go and look at some of the "pirated content". Almost all of it is tagged as belonging to certain "license holders".

      That means that Disney, Warner etc are getting paid for having their videos on Youtube. The stuff gets uploaded, Google's algorithm works out who owns the rights to the material, and the rights owners get an email. They can choose to have it taken down, or to leave it up and monetise the videos.

      If you don't believe me, go and find some studio versions of Jimi Hendrix songs on Youtube. Then come

      • Go and look at some of the "pirated content". Almost all of it is tagged as belonging to certain "license holders".

        Google does find a lot of it, and tag it and link to a real source... but you have to think Google is making quite a bit more money froths than they are passing on.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ac22 ( 7754550 )

          but you have to think Google is making quite a bit more money froths than they are passing on.

          We don't have to guess, we can go and look the numbers up:

          YouTube is moving all of its content partners to the standard 55-45 advertising revenue share

          https://variety.com/2013/digit... [variety.com]

          YouTube takes 45%, the content partners get 55%.

  • Yeah it's called YouTube (Score:4, Insightful)

    by S_Stout ( 2725099 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:44PM (#61684819)
    You can watch any TV clip, any movie clip, and you can download any song. Note that if you try to make YouTube with the same business model, you will get sued into oblivion.

  • Talking about ads and prices... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:44PM (#61684821)

    How much did the MPAA pay for this one?

  • That's a big list (Score:5, Insightful)

    by IWantMoreSpamPlease ( 571972 ) on Thursday August 12, 2021 @01:44PM (#61684823) Homepage Journal

    From the summary:
    "...at least 84,000 illicit entertainment sites."

    I'd like to see this alleged list. I'm willing to bet the vast majority of those sites are little more than re-directors to a main site, or just a trap for the unwary.

    • I'd like to see this alleged list. I'm willing to bet the vast majority of those sites are little more than re-directors to a main site, or just a trap for the unwary.

      Here's a link to the report. [digitalcit...liance.org] They didn't include a full list, but there are many examples.

  • An idea of how to extinguish their business model, but I'm not telling anyone!

  • don't have ads. Well except maybe at the beginning and the end. (Think of the billions they could earn with earwax remover and douche commercials)

    There are a few "producers" that toss in randomly timed ads for other services but I tend to skip those.

    And just for the LOLS, 1.3 billion isn't in any way "billions"

    I'm streaming mostly netflix with a dose of peacock. Once sportsball season starts, I'll actually probably pay to watch my favorite team

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      Sportsball is my biggest irritant when it comes to TV. It's like they make it intentionally difficult to watch. The only (legal) way for me to watch our local baseball team is to fork out $60-80/month for a TV package that I won't use 99% of. Football is hardly any better. Sure, the local team is on broadcast TV. If that's not your favorite team, good luck. Want to watch every game? You're subscribing to at least 3 services to make it happen.
  • I havent seen one in a while because i dont have a TV and I have ad blockers on everything.

  • Yeah, the skys are just filled with W4r3z folks flying around in their private jets.

      Combined, maybe approaching what could be 'close' to a billion dollars-MAYBE.

    But I have a feeling that that this report is "cooking the books", so to speak.

  • ...only they do creating false companies to divert benefits so they don't have to pay taxes (that would cover your health, repair your roads, etc.) or even pay the actors (some actos payment is based on benefits from the movies).

    A good example is Harry Potter movies that they had the IMPUDENCE to say they LOST MONEY with them.

  • ...to find the right combination of adblock, tracker blocking and careful management of noscript to be able to use one of these sites properly. Sometimes I turn some of them off, too, to look for new scambaiting opportunities. They're pretty great for that.

  • And I'm stealing from multibilion industry just to watch or hear ads and product placement which will meake me buy crap that will make me more poor.

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