According to network sources, the Internet piracy market in Russia over the past year decreased by 7% compared to 2019 and amounted to $ 59 million, RBC writes about this with reference to research data from Group-IB, which operates in the field of information security.

«Despite the growing interest in “pirate”, the shadow video content market continued to decline last year, losing 7%: from $ 63,5 million in 2019, it reached $ 59 million in 2020“, – said in the message of Group-IB.

The report notes that although the market for Internet piracy has shrunk, Russians’ interest in such content has grown. If in 2019 the number of requests to view free video content was 10,5 billion, then in 2020 it increased to 11,8 billion requests (an increase of 12%). According to Group-IB, in April last year, “an absolute historical record for the number of intentions to watch pirated films for free“. In just a month, 1,4 billion requests for viewing pirated TV series and films were registered. Experts noted that due to the influx of viewers, pirate servers could not withstand the load.

The Group-IB report also states that the main beneficiaries of pirated online cinemas are online casinos and bookmakers sponsoring illegal copying of movie premieres and TV series, translations into different languages ​​for sound studios. In addition, they also actively advertise illegal content after posting it in pirated online cinemas.

The close attention of law enforcement agencies, financial institutions and regulators to shadow financial flows has led to a decrease in advertisers’ interest in pirated content. The average cost of advertising per 1 impressions on such resources last year decreased from $ 6 to $ 5.