As of 2018, there are more video streaming subscribers than paid-TV subscribers worldwide, accessing over 500 licensed online video portals. As a result of this rapid expansion and exploding consumer demand, the industry is producing original content at an unprecedented rate and creating new and innovative ways for consumers to watch their favorite sports around the world, their favorite television series, their favorite movies, and countless other consumer choices.
This eruption of consumer choices is fueled by rapidly adapting creative and technology industries, which employ up to 2.6 million workers in the U.S. and provide $229 billion in annual economic benefits to the U.S. economy. However, as legal streaming access has proliferated, so has digital piracy, as criminal actors adapt to take advantage of new technologies and consumer behaviors.
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80%
Research indicates that more than 80% of piracy is attributable to streaming. Illegal streaming is enabled by piracy devices and apps, which have overtaken BitTorrent and other download-based technologies that deliver unauthorized live television shows and video on demand over the internet.
Impacts of Digital Piracy on the U.S. Economy takes a close look at how piracy stifles the economic growth and progress generated by streaming. The study shows that all of the benefits that streaming brings to our economy have been artificially capped by digital piracy. Using macroeconomic modeling of digital piracy, the study estimates that global online piracy costs the U.S. economy at least $29.2 billion in lost revenue each year.
Digital video piracy results in significant losses to the U.S. economy, harming businesses ranging from content production firms to the innovative technology companies that are driving the digital distribution revolution. While there is no single solution, global collaboration among industries and governments to educate consumers of the dangers of piracy, coupled with the expansion of legal options in cases of infringement, is necessary to curb these negative effects. All parties must continue to work creatively and constructively to enable dreamers, innovators, and creators around the world to continue to tell their unique stories and advance our culture and economy.
While there is no single solution, global collaboration among industries and governments to educate consumers of the dangers of piracy, coupled with the expansion of legal options in cases of infringement, is necessary to curb these negative effects. #StreamingStudy
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29.2 Billion
The study shows that all of the benefits that streaming brings to our economy have been artificially capped by digital piracy. Using macroeconomic modeling of digital piracy, the study estimates that global online piracy costs the U.S. economy at least $29.2 billion in lost revenue each year.
