The publishing industry, encompassing e-books or their print counterparts and such constitutes a significant portion, contributing to 28 percent of global piracy traffic. While this can provide you with a glimpse of the magnitude of the issue that piracy has grown to be, a recent report has revealed that in 2022, a substantial 46 percent of all piracy website visits were directed towards platforms offering illicit TV content, while approximately 13 percent were attributed to film piracy sites. In contrast, music and software claim a relatively smaller share of illicit website traffic.
Previous estimates indicate that a staggering 4 million books are illicitly downloaded annually, resulting in a substantial $300 million loss for publishers and authors alike. This financial setback represents the hard work and dedication invested by authors, often spending 6 to 12 months crafting a novel comprising 50,000 words or more. E-book piracy poses a considerable threat to the livelihoods of these creators.
Reports highlight the top 5 countries contributing to piracy site visits: the United States (14 billion), India (9 billion), Russia (8 billion), China, and the United Kingdom (4 billion each). Illicit streaming sites dominate TV piracy traffic, constituting 95 percent, along with a significant portion of movie-related piracy. Torrents, once the preferred method for peer-to-peer file sharing, now play a negligible role in the overall traffic to piracy-related sites.
The report further reveals a staggering 215 billion visits to piracy websites in 2022, reflecting an 18 percent increase from the previous year. Estimations of revenue loss due to piracy vary significantly, with reports such as the one from June 2019 by Nera Economic Consulting and the Global Innovation Policy Center suggesting an annual loss of $29 billion for the U.S. economy due to global video piracy. While these figures lack independent verification, they offer a rough estimate of the economic repercussions of media piracy.
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.
