Online content piracy refers to the unauthorized distribution or reproduction of copyrighted material, such as movies, music, and software, over the internet. This is often done through file-sharing websites or peer-to-peer networks. Content piracy can have a negative impact on the creators and owners of the copyrighted material, as they are not compensated for the use of their work.

In the latest Ankura Piracy Statistics report 2022, India is ranked as the third highest contributor (after U.S. and Russia) of visits to content piracy websites with over 7 Billion+ (7,99,071,291) visits through torrent sites.

In India, online content piracy is a significant issue, particularly in the film and music industries. The country has a large population of internet users, and access to high-speed internet is becoming more widely available, which has led to an increase in the number of people accessing pirated content.

To combat this problem, the Indian government has implemented strict copyright laws and has taken action against websites that host pirated content. However, despite these efforts, online content piracy remains a persistent problem in India. The main reason is the high demand for free content and the ease of access to it.

The report’s data set measured industry-wide traffic and piracy demand for the film, TV, music, software, and publishing sectors across unlicensed streaming, torrent download, web download, and stream-ripping websites. TV content accounted for 46.6% of all traffic to piracy websites followed by publishing content (books) which accounted for 27.80%, film piracy makes it to 12.40% followed by music and software which accounts for 7% and 6.20% respectively.

Key Highlights of the Report

Over the past decade, accessibility to broadband internet has also made it convenient to download illegal software, games, music, eBooks, and movies. More than 60% of global online piracy can be attributed to illegal streaming services whereas illegal downloading of copyrighted materials takes up 24% of the global bandwidth. Pirated video material gets over 230 billion views a year subjected to annual global revenue losses from digital piracy are between $40 and $97.1 billion in the movie industry.

Most Pirated Movies and TV Series in 2022 – India 

Spider-Man No way Home (25%) is the most pirated movie whereas Game of Thrones (47%) is the most pirated TV series in India - 1,573 and 17,125 are the number of torrent downloads, used for pirating the aforementioned movie and TV series, respectively. KGF Chapter 2 (6%) and RRR (6%) are two of the most pirated local movies in India - 396 and 351 are the number of torrent sites for pirating them.  

Most Pirated Software(s) in 2022 – India 

Linux 2022, Autodesk AutoCAD 2022, Adobe Acrobat XI Pro 11.0.20, Adobe Premiere Pro 2020, and Microsoft Office 2021 Version 2108 Build 14326.20238 (x64) are some of the top most downloaded software from pirated torrent websites in India.

Most Pirated Games in 2022 – India 

Grand Theft Auto V, God of War, FIFA 19, and Need for Speed – Payback are some of the topmost downloaded games in India games.     

Some experts have suggested that making legitimate content more easily accessible and affordable could help to reduce the number of people turning to pirated material. At Ankura, our forensic experts collect supporting pieces of evidence and identify the parties responsible for Piracy. The Ankura Piracy Detection and Remediation tools detect illegitimate sources and take measures to prevent piracy, automate discovery and removal of pirated content.

Rules and regulations vary significantly across geographies and sometimes legal actions can be costly or ineffective in piracy prevention. In terms of real-time discovery, these tools identify and monitor data of online piracy and torrent downloads. Post the identification and diagnosis phase, Ankura assists in conducting raids on piracy source locations to shut down piracy sources like illegal streaming websites, and IPTVs.

Overall, it is important for the creators, owners, and distributors of copyrighted material to adapt to the changes in technology and consumer behavior, work with the government and use technical solutions to reduce the gap between the demand and supply, to fight against content piracy.