The highly anticipated world-title boxing match between Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker on Saturday night – in which Joshua triumphed to capture a bevy of titles – saw hundreds of pirated streams as fans found ways to tune in online or without paying the pay-per-view fee.
Content security specialist Irdeto identified 339 streams that illegally redistributed the fight. Aside from the theft of intellectual property and the revenue lost, many of the streams were lower quality that put consumers at risk of a poor viewing experience and missing key moments during the fight.
Social media was again found to have been a major vehicle for illegal streams, with 207 pirate streams detected using multiple social media channels, including Facebook, YouTube, Periscope and Twitch, reaching approximately 225,804 viewers.
Pirates also took advantage of illicit streaming plugins for Kodi, the popular media player, with 71 streams identified on that platform.
Further, pirates often create professional-looking websites and services to fool users into thinking their illegal content offering is legitimate. They tend to use popular e-commerce sites to proactively advertise their services to consumers, despite those sites explicitly banning the sale of illegal streaming devices. Irdeto identified 180 advertisements for illicit streaming devices offering Joshua vs. Parker on e-commerce websites, including eBay and Gumtree, in just one day in the week leading up to the fight.
“High-profile live sporting events like this are major targets for criminals looking to profit from illegal streams,” said Rory O’Connor, senior vice president of cybersecurity services at Irdeto. “Content owners and rights holders can combine state-of-the-art anti-piracy technology, proactive services and comprehensive cybercrime business intelligence services to shut down streams in real time and protect their content investments.”
Consumers should be vigilant as well.
“By watching illegal streams, knowingly or unknowingly, they could miss crucial sporting moments and are exposing their devices, data and families to risks of cybercrime, inappropriate content and other threats,” O’Connor added. “In addition, people who think about sharing events like this illegally should be aware that they could face charges or legal action as a result.”
Piracy continues to be a widespread scourge: Irdeto’s Global Consumer Piracy Survey, which surveyed more than 25,000 adults across 30 countries last year, found that 52% of consumers around the globe knowingly watch pirated video content.