Note: This article is an offshoot of Variety Intelligence Platform’s special report “The New Face of Content Piracy,” available exclusively to VIP+ subscribers.
It’s easy to assume that what’s driving illegal consumption of film and TV is as simple as viewers wanting to watch popular titles without paying for them. Indeed, that was essentially the case for film in 2022, with the year’s highest-grossing titles largely overlapping with the most pirated films, according to exclusive data piracy-focused research firm Muso shared with Variety Intelligence Platform.
Films’ ease of accessibility on streaming also played a notable, albeit smaller, role. The most pirated film of 2022, Marvel’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” has only been available to stream in the U.S. thus far via Starz, whose domestic subscriber base is a fraction of the size of platforms like Disney+ and Netflix. Piracy of the film therefore remained elevated throughout the year.
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It’s easy to assume that what’s driving illegal consumption of film and TV is as simple as viewers wanting to watch popular titles without paying for them. Indeed, that was essentially the case for film in 2022, with the year’s highest-grossing titles largely overlapping with the most pirated films, according to exclusive data piracy-focused research firm Muso shared with Variety Intelligence Platform.
Films’ ease of accessibility on streaming also played a notable, albeit smaller, role. The most pirated film of 2022, Marvel’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” has only been available to stream in the U.S. thus far via Starz, whose domestic subscriber base is a fraction of the size of platforms like Disney+ and Netflix. Piracy of the film therefore remained elevated throughout the year.