56 Movie Piracy Statistics on Scale, Trends, Costs and Outcomes

by

Movie piracy is measured in several different ways: website access, survey participation, title-level activity, and modeled revenue effects. The figures below keep those definitions separate while covering EU and UK trends, selected title patterns, and study-specific economic estimates.

Key Movie Piracy Statistics

The most broadly useful figures are:

  • In 2023, EU web piracy averaged about 10 accesses per internet user per month across films, music, TV, software and publications.
  • In 2022, films represented 11% of EU infringing-site accesses across the covered content categories.
  • EU overall piracy access was 3.3% higher in 2022 than in 2021.
  • Film piracy in the EU increased slightly in both 2021 and 2022 after a substantial decline during the first COVID-19 months.
  • The average EU internet user accessed 5.9 instances of pirated content per month in 2020 across film, TV and music.
  • Film piracy access declined 68% between 2017 and 2020 in the EU and UK study coverage.
  • Streaming accounted for about 80% of EU film, TV and music piracy accesses in 2020.
  • In 2022, 24% of UK film consumers reported using an illegal source at least once in the previous three months.
  • In the 2022 UK survey, 26% of film downloaders used an illegal source.
  • In the same survey, 18% of film streamers used an illegal source.
  • The 2022 UK Wave 12 survey included 2,872 film consumers and identified 694 film infringers under its past-three-month definition.
  • The EUIPO title-level study analyzed 316 films, selecting the 30 most frequently pirated creative works in each EU member state.
  • Films from four countries accounted for 96% of film piracy in that EU title-level study.
  • 60% of pirated films in the title-level study were released in the same year as the measurement period.
  • 90% of pirated films in that study were released within the previous five years.
  • Eliminating piracy during the theatrical window was modeled to increase US box-office revenue by 15% for wide-release movies using 2006–2008 data.
  • The same historical model estimated $1.3 billion in annual US box-office gain under that counterfactual.
  • Pre-release piracy was associated with 19.1% lower movie revenue than post-release piracy in a file-sharing-site study.
  • The Megaupload shutdown was associated with a 6.5% to 8.5% increase in digital movie revenue for three major studios.

Contents

The EUIPO’s 2017–2023 report uses MUSO-tracked website traffic. Its access figures measure visits or accesses, not unique people, completed views, downloads, or necessarily movie-only activity unless the statistic is explicitly labeled as film.

In 2023, average EU web piracy was about 10 accesses per internet user per month across films, music, TV, software and publications. In 2022, overall EU piracy access was 3.3% higher than in 2021, but that change combines all covered content types.

The 2022 content mix shows why a film-only interpretation can be misleading:

  • Pirated TV represented 48% of EU infringing-site accesses in 2022, measured across all covered piracy accesses.
  • Films represented 11% of EU infringing-site accesses in 2022, measured by access rather than users or titles.

EU film piracy increased slightly in both 2021 and 2022 after a substantial decline during the first COVID-19 months. The summary gives the direction of change rather than one single film percentage for both years.

Period EU or EU–UK measure Result
2018 Overall film, TV and music access 20% decline
2019 Overall film, TV and music access 6% decline
2020 Overall film, TV and music access 34% decline
2017–2020 Film access 68% decline

The annual changes and the 68% film-access decline come from the EUIPO study of tracked piracy-site traffic, covering the EU and UK where stated. They are not unique-user counts. EUIPO, Online copyright infringement in the European Union – films, music, publications, software and TV (2017–2023) and EUIPO, Online Copyright Infringement in the European Union: Music, Films and TV (2017–2020)

In 2020, the average EU internet user accessed pirated content 5.9 times per month across film, TV and music. Overall access to those categories was 50% lower in 2020 than in 2017, while streaming made up about 80% of accesses.

Movie Piracy by Format, Method and Source

UK Wave 12 figures are survey percentages among people who consumed the relevant category, generally referring to at least one illegal source in the prior three months. Uncertain-source-only respondents were excluded from the legal and illegal calculations, and the denominators differ by table.

UK film measure 2019 2020 2021 2022
Downloading: only illegal 11% 9% 9% 10%
Downloading: legal-only 75% 77% 78% 73%
Downloading: mixed legal and illegal 15% 14% 13% 16%
Streaming: only illegal 3% 2% 2% 3%
Streaming: legal-only 78% 84% 85% 83%
Streaming: mixed legal and illegal 19% 13% 13% 15%

For the broader 2022 method measures, illegal-source use reached 26% among UK film downloaders and 18% among UK film streamers. The overall film infringement measure was 24% among people aged 12 and over who had consumed film in the previous three months.

The comparable legal-only series shows a five-percentage-point fall in film downloading from 78% in 2021 to 73% in 2022, and a two-point fall in film streaming from 85% to 83%. These are derived changes from rounded published percentages, not new survey observations.

Source: UK IPO, Executive summary: Online copyright infringement tracker survey (12th Wave)

UK Film Piracy Participation and Infringer Profiles

The 2022 Wave 12 UK film-consumer base was 2,872 people. Within the past-three-month illegal-source definition, 694 respondents were identified as film infringers; detailed profile tables used a 465-person infringer sub-base.

These bases should not be treated as population totals. The film-consumer denominator supports the 24% participation measure, while the infringer bases support profile analysis.

Wave 12 also provides category context, but these figures are not film statistics:

  • Overall infringement across categories was 32% among UK category consumers in 2022.
  • Music infringement was 25% among UK music consumers.
  • TV infringement was 19% among UK TV consumers.
  • Live-sports infringement was 36% among UK live-sport consumers.
  • Software infringement was 38% among UK software consumers.

A separate estimate placed UK TV piracy at approximately 6.2 million people, or 9% of the total sample, in Wave 12. That is a survey-based TV estimate and should not be substituted for a film population estimate.

The official Wave 13 landing page confirms a later 2024 tracker wave for UK people aged 12 and over, but the comparable film series used here comes from the accessible Wave 12 executive summary. UK IPO, Online copyright infringement tracker survey (13th Wave)

Movie Piracy Across Titles, Countries and Release Timing

The EUIPO title-level study analyzed the 30 most frequently pirated creative works in each EU member state and covered 316 films. It therefore describes a selected high-piracy title sample, not the complete universe of films.

Title-level finding Result Scope
Films covered 316 EU selected-title study
Countries accounting for film piracy 4 countries = 96% Analyzed film-piracy measure
Released in the measurement year 60% Selected pirated films
Released within previous five years 90% Selected pirated films

The concentration figures refer to the study’s title-level piracy measure. Likewise, the release-year percentages classify the selected titles rather than all films or all piracy activity.

The broader EUIPO 2017–2020 edition used 48 months of piracy data, from January 2017 through December 2020, across all 27 EU member states plus the UK. Its geographic scope and observation window are important when comparing these results with the later EU-only access figures. EUIPO, 2017–2020 trends and drivers

Movie Piracy Costs and Revenue Effects

Economic studies use counterfactuals and associations rather than one universal observed loss. The estimates below concern particular datasets, periods and industries.

For US wide-release movies using 2006–2008 data, eliminating piracy during the theatrical window was modeled to increase box-office revenue by 15%, equivalent to an estimated $1.3 billion in annual US box-office gain. This is a historical counterfactual model, not a causal experiment or current-dollar estimate.

A separate empirical file-sharing study associated pre-release piracy with 19.1% lower movie revenue than post-release piracy. The comparison is observational and concerns movie titles in a file-sharing-site dataset.

The Megaupload shutdown study associated the shutdown with a 6.5% to 8.5% increase in digital movie revenue for three major motion-picture studios. That range is a cross-country quasi-experimental estimate tied to pre-shutdown Megaupload usage, not a universal effect for every film or studio.

Sources: The Dual Impact of Movie Piracy on Box-Office Revenue, An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Pre-Release Movie Piracy on Box-Office Revenue, and Gone in 60 Seconds: The Impact of Megaupload Shutdown on Movie Sales

The MPA’s 2022 filing cited an estimate of 137.2 billion global visits to film and TV piracy sites in 2020. Visits are not unique users, streams, downloads or movie-only visits.

The same filing cited at least $29.2 billion in annual lost US revenue from digital video piracy, using a 2019 estimate, and an estimated 230,000 to 560,000 US jobs reduced by digital piracy. Both figures are cited third-party economic estimates; the revenue figure covers digital video, not only movies, and the jobs figure is modeled rather than a direct employment count.

The MPA filing reported more than 832 legitimate audiovisual streaming services globally in 2020. It also said member companies distributed films and television shows in more than 130 countries, with well over half of distribution revenue earned overseas in that context.

Industry income figures provide context but are not direct piracy-loss measures:

  • SAG-AFTRA members received more than $1.01 billion through legitimate sales and streams in 2020.
  • IATSE earned $496 million for pension and health plans through legitimate sales and streams in 2020.
  • The Directors Guild of America distributed more than $430 million in residuals in 2020.
  • Writers, including WGA East members, earned $529 million in 2020 through the cited legitimate-income streams.

The filing also reported $17.3 billion in US audiovisual exports and a $9.6 billion US audiovisual services trade surplus in 2020. Those are industry-context measures, not amounts attributed to piracy.

The UK survey included a stated substitution measure for music: 32% of music infringers said they would move to a paid source if illegal sources disappeared. It is a comparator-category, hypothetical intention and does not show observed purchasing behavior among film infringers.

Source: MPA 2022 Notorious Markets Filing

Table of contents