It has been projected that streaming services could lose out on more than $100 billion in the coming years, with piracy expected to have a colossal impact on the industry.
Parks Associates, an internationally recognised market research and consulting company, recently carried out a study to examine piracy threats and investigate the development of anti-piracy measures.
The study found that pirate websites and password sharing could cost providers as much as $113 billion by 2027, despite the fact that many high-profile streaming services – such as Amazon Prime Video – are looking to prevent password sharing.
Steve Hawley, a contributing analyst at Parks Associates, said:
“While there is some optimism that emerging countermeasures and best practices may see piracy begin to plateau by 2027, there is no consensus among stakeholders as to when it may begin to decline.”
Parks Associates projects that piracy rates for TV and film in the United States will rise from 22% in 2022 to 24.5% by 2027. It is worth noting that visits to piracy websites increased by 31% in 2020 alone.
Sarah Lee, a research analyst for Park Associates, said:
“The number of households who share account credentials and consume pirated content is rising. People are increasingly looking for new ways to satisfy entertainment needs.
“Participation in sharing account credentials increased 48% since 2019.”
Although Parks Associates mainly named TV and film streaming services in the study, there is no denying that sports streaming will continue to be impacted by piracy.
For example, password sharing enables ESPN+, Paramount+ and Peacock customers to run multiple streams at the same time, with each service providing three concurrent streams.
As a result, it is possible for three different households to watch the same football match via the same account, leading to fewer subscriptions for the provider.
Many streaming services may look to take a leaf out of Netflix’s book, as the media giant allows customers to share accounts for an added fee. However, until there is a definitive solution, providers will continue to be affected by piracy.
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