MUSO’s In 2024, piracy didn’t vanish - it evolved. MUSO tracked 216.3 billion visits to piracy websites last year. While that’s a modest 5.7% decline from 2023, the full picture is far more nuanced. Beneath the surface, some sectors surged while others receded, painting a complex map of shifting global media demand.
Here are just a few of the insights we uncover in our newly released report:
Publishing Piracy Is Now a Mainstream Digital Habit
For the first time, publishing was the only major media sector to grow. Visits rose 4.3% to 66.4 billion. This was driven almost entirely by global demand for Manga, web fiction, and fan-translated content that arrives before official releases.
This isn’t a niche trend anymore. Publishing piracy is now the second-largest piracy category, behind only TV.
TV Piracy Still Dominates - But Anime Is Driving It
TV remains the #1 category with 96.8 billion visits and this is despite a 6.8% drop. What's holding it up? One word: Anime. The genre’s relentless release cycles and delayed localisation make it a magnet for unlicensed consumption.
Even with more platforms than ever, content fragmentation is fuelling piracy. Users are increasingly unwilling to maintain multiple subscriptions to access global shows.
Film Piracy Plunged - But Here’s the Catch
Film piracy fell by 18%, down to 24.3 billion visits. That’s good news - but it comes with a twist. The decline wasn’t just about better access. The Hollywood strikes of 2023 left gaps in the release calendar, reducing demand simply because there was less to pirate.
Music and Software Are Piracy Success Stories
Music piracy dropped by 18.6%, and software piracy by 2.1%. These declines reflect the growing maturity of cloud-based platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and subscription-based software ecosystems. It's a sign that when access models work piracy recedes.
What Does This All Mean?
Piracy continues to reveal unmet demand: where audiences want content, but legal channels are too slow, too fragmented, or too expensive.
Want to go deeper? Download the full MUSO 2024 Piracy Trends and Insights report to explore:
- Regional and country-level piracy trends
- ROI modelling for film piracy losses
- Real-time data on delivery methods and traffic sources
- Insights into Manga, Anime, web fiction, and live sports demand
