Video piracy to cost U.S. $11.6B in lost revenue by 2022, study says

The lost revenue impact from video piracy is set to continue growing across the globe and in the U.S., where the issue will keep compounding over the next five years, according to Digital TV Research.

New numbers from the firm show that the U.S. will be hit by $11.6 billion in lost revenues from video piracy by 2022, up from $9 billion in 2016. Other countries feeling the brunt of the issue include China, which will see its revenue losses jump $5.5 billion to $9.8 billion by 2022. However, China will improve its legitimate video revenues during that time, taking them from $1.2 billion less than the impact of piracy in 2016 to $2.4 billion more by 2022.

But the Asia Pacific region could be the most impacted by video piracy by 2022, with projected revenue losses expected to reach nearly $20 billion by then. Overall, the firm expects lost revenues from video piracy to total $51.6 billion by 2022.

“Piracy will never be eradicated. However, it is not all bad news. Piracy growth rates will decelerate as more effective government action is taken and as the benefits of legal choices become more apparent,” said Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, in a statement. “Legitimate revenues from OTT TV episodes and movie overtook online piracy losses as far back as 2013. The gap between the two measures is widening.”

RELATED: Netflix is going after pirates

U.S. companies like Netflix, which operate both domestically and internationally, are taking steps to curb the unauthorized downloading and distribution of video content.

In a job listing spotted by TorrentFreak, Netflix says it’s looking to expand its content protection team and needs a coordinator who can head up its “internal tactical takedown efforts with the goal of reducing online piracy to a socially unacceptable fringe activity.”