Irdeto: World Cup Piracy Targeted European, North American Broadcasters

AMSTERDAM: Irdeto has released new piracy figures from the FIFA World Cup, finding that European and North American broadcasters were the biggest targets for illegal streams worldwide.

Irdeto’s research identified European broadcasters as the main targets for illegal streams—27 percent of streams were detected. European piracy was rivaled by North America with 19 percent of illegal World Cup streams coming from broadcasters in that region.

The findings also revealed that several unexpected matches were hot targets for piracy. The most pirated match was the semifinal between the Netherlands and Argentina, with 252 illegal streams. Even though this match took place between teams from Europe and South America, it was actually a North American broadcaster whose channel was featured in the largest volume of illegal streams. The second most pirated match was Brazil vs. Germany in the semifinal, with 214 streams. The top five included, in order, Russia vs. South Korea in the group stage (197 streams), Chile vs. Brazil in the second round (193 streams) and Brazil vs. Colombia in the quarter final (190 streams). Surprisingly, the World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina was the 11th most pirated match, with 170 streams.

Through the duration of the World Cup, Irdeto’s Network Operations Center (NOC) and anti-piracy teams across the globe successfully disrupted 3,743 streams, impacting a potential 10.6 million illegal views. The 10.6 million illegal views represented an estimated revenue value in excess of $120 million, according to Irdeto.

The firm also asserts that social media plays a "critical role" in online piracy. Irdeto removed 199 live YouTube streams, disrupting approximately 2.5 million viewers. Irdeto also disrupted Facebook accounts or groups with more than two million members that were distributing links to unauthorized live video streams.