The true cost of piracy and how illegal streaming hurts the entertainment industry

By Chola Makgamathe, copyright practitioner and attorney

In an era where streaming seems effortless and endless, the true cost of piracy remains hidden – shrouded in convenience, yet devastating to the entertainment industry and especially to content creators worldwide.

• Click here to learn more about the work Partners Against Piracy is doing to combat piracy.

I have spent years advocating for stronger intellectual property protection in South Africa and beyond, and am fully aware of how illegal streaming – whether through illicit websites, apps, cyberlockers or IPTV set-top boxes – carries a heavy price that goes far beyond lost revenue.

Digital piracy is not a victimless crime. International research estimates digital video piracy inflicts up to $71 billion in annual losses on the global entertainment industry, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Centre.

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) estimated losses of over $3 billion per year for the industry – these estimates highlight the significant impact of piracy on the industry’s potential profits, with digital piracy posing an ongoing threat.

While exact figures are always difficult to measure, the MPA’s figures indicate substantial financial losses due to unauthorized movie downloads and other forms of piracy, according to ResearchGate.

Piracy rises during pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for films soared – and so too did piracy.

A MUSO report revealed a 40 percent increase in film piracy, with spikes in the U.S. (41 percent), the U.K. (43 percent), Spain (50 percent), India (62 percent) and Italy (66 percent) compared to pre-lockdown levels.

That surge did not create new content but stripped income from the hands of those who invested in telling stories.

Sadly, since the pandemic, content piracy has not only rebounded – it has evolved into a more pervasive and complex threat to the global creative economy.

In 2023 alone, MUSO recorded over 229 billion visits to piracy websites, with video content (films and TV) making up the largest share at 141 billion visits.

Film piracy rose by 6.5 percent, while TV piracy dominated, accounting for over 45 percent of total traffic.

Publishing emerged as the second-most pirated category, with 63 to 66 billion visits, driven largely by manga and fan-translated fiction.

India and the U.S. led global piracy traffic, with India alone experiencing an 80 percent year-on-year surge in video piracy.

Music piracy also saw a significant resurgence.

In 2023, there were 17.1 billion visits to music piracy sites – a 13.4 percent increase from the year before.

Stream-ripping, especially from platforms like YouTube, accounted for 40 percent of this activity.

A global issue

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), 29 percent of global music consumers admitted to engaging in copyright infringement, with that figure jumping to 43 percent among Gen Z audiences.

These trends reveal a post-COVID reality where subscription fatigue, content fragmentation, and digital-first habits are fuelling demand for unauthorised access – stripping revenue from creators, diluting brand control, and challenging industry sustainability across every sector.

In South Africa, piracy does more than reduce profits; it erodes the creative backbone of the industry.

The 2022 South African Cultural Observatory (SACO) mapping study confirms that the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are a vital pillar of the country’s economy, contributing R161 billion to GDP in 2020 -just under three percent of total economic output and roughly the same size as the agricultural sector.

Within this, Design and Creative Services contributed R51 billion (32 percent), while Audio-visual and Interactive Media, which includes film, television, gaming, and advertising, added R48.4 billion (30 percent).

Visual Arts and Crafts generated R23.4 billion (15 percent), and Books and Press R21.5 billion (13 percent), with smaller but still significant contributions from Performance and Celebration (6 percent) and Cultural and Natural Heritage (4 percent).

These figures show that the CCIs are not a niche sector but a major economic driver, with extensive value chains linking into tourism, hospitality, retail, transport, manufacturing, and technology.

Piracy directly undermines this contribution by diverting revenue from legitimate channels, especially in the high-value audio-visual, music, publishing, and design domains.

When consumers access pirated films, series, music, or books instead of paying for legal content, production companies, publishers, and artists lose income, which immediately affects the livelihoods of creative professionals.

A wide-reaching issue

The damage extends far beyond the creative workforce: reduced production spend means fewer contracts for suppliers in catering, construction, set design, post-production, security, and transport.

Lower incomes for creatives and service providers ripple through the wider economy, weakening the “multiplier effect” that the CCIs generate through indirect and induced employment.

Over time, sustained piracy erodes investor confidence, slows skills development, and reduces South Africa’s ability to compete in high-growth creative exports – threatening both jobs and the sector’s R161 billion GDP footprint.

More alarming are the social and structural consequences.

One study in West Africa found 21 percent of cinema operators lose three-quarters or more of their earnings because pirated alternatives dominate consumer behaviour.

In turn, local production slows, and cultural expression is stifled.

Partners Against Piracy

Partners Against Piracy was launched across Africa in 2022 precisely to address this: without protection, African storytellers struggle to sustain their narratives and audiences around the world miss vibrant, authentic tales rooted in African soil.

Across the globe, powerful alliances are making headway: the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), founded in 2017 by major studios and streamers, has dismantled pirate platforms like 123movies and Zoro.to, signalling that organised collaboration can disrupt large-scale piracy networks.

But enforcement is only part of the solution.

Piracy thrives on convenience, low price, fragile IP laws and public unawareness.

Many consumers downplay piracy – thinking it harmless – while exposing themselves to serious risks.

Illegal streaming sites frequently distribute malware, compromise privacy, and attract phishing scams.

Even brands unwittingly fuel piracy through ad placement; UK’s PIPCU cut advertising revenues for pirate websites by over 70 percent through public-private action, removing a core income source for these illicit platforms.

The root causes are complex: fragmented legal frameworks, limited access to affordable, legitimate content, socioeconomic disparities, and cultural attitudes that minimise intellectual property value.

The piracy crisis in entertainment is driven by accessibility gaps, technological ease for infringers, and underlying financial pressures in emerging markets.

Changing the narrative

To counter these trends, we need a holistic approach. At Partners Against Piracy, we advocate for strong copyright and other laws), robust enforcement, public education, and technology-enabled takedowns.

For example, support for the Cybercrimes Act and an MoU with the Department of Justice enables coordinated raids and prosecutions across broadcasting piracy rings.

In 2025, Irdeto technology helped remove over 40,000 illegal links across African piracy sites while drawing 17.4 million visits to top pirate domains – showing the scale of the problem and effectiveness of joint action.

But more than numbers, piracy erodes trust in African creative capacity.

It saps investor confidence, holding back regional studios and suppressing opportunities for the next generation of filmmakers, musicians and storytellers.

Each unpaid stream undermines equity, credibility and the value of intellectual property in our economies.

We must change the narrative: piracy is not free; it is theft – with real victims and real consequences.

Viewers, platforms, policymakers and industry bodies must work together to sustain legal frameworks, support fair access to content, and educate consumers that when they choose illicit streams, they undermine the very creativity they profess to admire.

The true cost of piracy is not just billions lost, or jobs jeopardised – it is the quiet extinguishing of artistic voices, cultural diversity and economic potential.

At Partners Against Piracy, we believe in restoring value to creative work, protecting rights, and ensuring that creators are paid, respected and empowered to tell the stories the world needs to hear.

Only then can we reclaim the future of entertainment – and ensure a vibrant, diverse, thriving industry that benefits creators and audiences alike.

Click here to learn more about the work Partners Against Piracy is doing to combat piracy.