Digital piracy has grown by more than 40 percent in the United States and in the United Kingdom during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, with even larger increases elsewhere in Europe, according to a new study.
Traffic at bootleg streaming and download sites measured by the piracy analyst firm Muso during the last seven days of March showed significant increases over the corresponding period in February. In fact, it was up 41.4 percent in the United States and 42.5 percent in the United Kingdom. Germany saw a rise of 35.5 percent, and traffic was up 50.4 percent in Spain and 66 percent in Italy.
The study noted the rise in traffic to piracy sites corresponded with cancellations of sporting and entertainment events and national and regional stay-at-home orders that led to closures of movie theaters in the different countries during that time span. "As more countries enforced lockdown and required citizens to self-isolate, demand for content via piracy grew exponentially," Muso explained.
Legal streaming sites, meanwhile, have also seen increases, as Netflix reported gaining 15.8 million new subscribers in the first quarter of 2020.
In all nations covered by the study, there is much greater traffic at TV piracy sites than those offering movies, but a bigger jump in visits to film piracy sites.
(via THR)