Online piracy is rising once again in 2022. The constant shifting in the business model of modern streaming services are playing a big role in this resurgence. 

Why Is Online Piracy Increasing?

We now have multiple online streaming services. Netflix, HBOMAX, Disney+, Apple TV, Peacock, Prime Video, Paramount+, Hulu and many more are on the way. There are currently over a dozen “subscription video on demand” providers to pick from, with dozens more alternatives available worldwide to anyone using a VPN to bypass geoblocks. 

This means online pirates can also easily pirate high quality contents. Not only that, piracy can be done now the same day the content is released. 

So what are the main reasons online piracy is increasing?. Here is a summary – 

1. The number of streaming services are increasing
2. Exclusivity of contents
3. The prices of streaming services are increasing gradually
4. Same day and date releases
5. Contents being geo blocked 
6. Contents having limited release

The number of streaming services are increasing, so is online piracy

Netflix, HBOMAX, Disney+, Apple TV, Peacock, Prime Video, Paramount+, Hulu, iflix, Discovery+, Showtime, Youtube Premium and many more. 

Not only existing ones but more are on their way. Subscription to all these streaming services is beyond normal. It is not possible to have 20 streaming service subscriptions at the same time. 

Exclusivity of contents

Streaming services at present like to have an array of exclusive contents. Disney TV has all the rights to Marvel and Star Wars, HBOMAX has the rights to all the Warner Brother productions as well as DC movies and shows, Peacock has the rights to WWE, Prime Videos has the rights to The Boys. 

We could go on and on about the exclusivity of each streaming service but that’s the current situation. The more streaming services there are, the more  exclusive the contents will be. 

This will make it difficult for the subscribers to see all their favorite contents. As stated before it’s not easy to have a subscription on all the streaming services available. Piracy becomes the default choice.

The prices of streaming services are increasing gradually

Subscribing to multiple streaming services is difficult. But that’s not the only problem subscribers are dealing with. The subscription prices of their current streaming services are also increasing gradually. 

Netflix, HBOMAX have already increased their prices and reportedly other streaming services are following suit.

This will of course hinder any plans for someone to choose multiple streaming services. Turning to free content through piracy becomes a part of the plan at that moment.

Same day and date releases

During the pandemic a few streaming services tried to release movies in streaming services rather than the theaters. Even after the pandemic when theaters were opening a lot of the movies were released in theaters as well as streaming services on the same day. 

This made Warner Brothers lose hundreds and millions of dollars. Disney+ lost millions of dollars as well. The reason was most of the audience saw this in their streaming services rather than going to the theaters but it actually eloped pirates the most. 

Due to this major decision by the movie studios the online pirates got their hands on HD version of the movies from day one of the release. No wonder studios lst hundreds and millions of dollars. Black Widow reportedly lost $600 Million through online piracy.

Contents being geo blocked 

Here’s a situation. You pay a subscription fee to watch a show on a streaming service. Then  you find out that content is not available in your country and has been geo blocked. 

This might be enough to make your audience rage quit and turn to online piracy. Although VPN is an option, then again you have to pay for another app which might not be feasible.

Contents having limited release

Even though when a movie gets released worldwide, it doesn’t actually get released in all countries. For example, movies such Everything Everywhere all at once, The Northmen didn’t get a release in Bangladesh which is a small country but has a population of 170 Million.

In these cases online piracy becomes the only option as they will not get a streaming service release for 2 or 3 months and those who are anticipating these movies very much don’t want to wait that much.

How Onsist deals with online piracy

Onsist says “Stop losing revenue with anti-piracy protection” 

We have a set process through which we can protect your content online.

1. Find Shared Courses

Monitor the web for illegal copies of your contents by using automated search engines and trained specialists.

Monitoring Engine

Monitor a database of known piracy sites 24/7, and find illegal copies of your contents.

Trained Specialists

Trained agents will manually look for contents too.

Social Media

Specialists will monitor social media such as Youtube for illegally shared contents.

2. Remove Illegal Copies

Illegal copies of your contents will be reported by means of DMCA notices.

DMCA Notice

Notices will be sent to infringing sites to get illegal contents removed.

Contact Hosting

Hosting providers will be notified of their copyright infringing clients.

Search Engine De-Indexing

Infringing search results will be removed from search engines such as Google.

3. Reap the Results

Illegal copies have been removed. Now you can reap the benefits of your contents.

Client System

Get daily insights on pirated contents we have found and have reported.

Weekly Reports

Get a weekly report on the amount of infringements we’ve found and removed.

Increased Revenue

With illegal options dwindling, people will return to your contents.