Leeds1888 TLDR
₹22,400 Cr lost to piracy in 2023; ₹8,700 Cr via OTT platforms
51% of Indian media consumers stream pirated content; 63% of piracy is via OTT
76% of piracy users are 19–34 year‑olds, ~23 % watch daily; average 9 hours/week of pirated media
64% would go legal if free; GST loss estimated at ₹4,300 Cr
Big Picture
In 2023, India’s media & entertainment sector lost an estimated ₹224 billion (₹22,400 Cr) due to piracy, making it the fourth-largest segment by lost revenue in the industry.
OTT piracy alone accounted for ₹87 billion (₹8,700 Cr), while theatrical piracy added ₹137 billion in losses.
Despite a 150% growth in OTT subscription revenue post-pandemic, 51% of media consumers still access pirated content.
Streaming is the dominant channel, accounting for 63% of all piracy, followed by mobile apps (16%) and other sources like torrents or social media (21%).
This reflects a paradox: higher legal pricing and complex access do not translate to lower illegal consumption.
Market Signals
Box Office & OTT Leak Impact
Average theatrical box-office revenue in 2023 reached ₹120 billion for the first time, but major film releases still experienced 20–30% post-leak digital fallout, especially for regional titles.
Consumption Patterns
23% of Indian households engage with pirated content daily, and 29% more than once a week.
Indians spend an average 9 hours per week consuming pirated media; 38% of that is OTT, and 22% is theatrical content.
41% of paying users share subscriptions, well above the APAC average, indicating price sensitivity even among paying users.
Demographics & Preferences
76% of piracy users are aged 19–34, with women favoring shows and men favoring films and classics.
Language preference: Hindi (40%), English (31%), regional languages make up the rest.
Signal vs Noise
Piracy = Unserved OTT Demand
64% of those consuming pirated media would switch to authorized platforms if the service were free or ad-supported.
70% of piracy users explicitly stated they don’t intend to subscribe to OTT services, suggesting price rather than quality is the primary barrier.
This reveals that Piracy is not just theft but price discovery. Platforms are inadvertently using leaks and piracy as feedback loops indicating pricing, early-access, and content gaps.
The Leeds Lens
Reframe piracy as consumer feedback.
If over half of media consumers (51%) are using pirated sources and those aged 19–34 lead the charge (76%).
It means that there is a deep structural mismatch between OTT offerings and consumer value expectations.
The average pirated viewer watches content 9 hours per week, with a significant portion happening on streaming platforms where legal alternatives either don’t exist or feel unaffordable.
OTT services must evolve pricing and access strategies to align with consumer behaviour and affordability in Tier II and III towns where digital infrastructure and disposable income vary widely.
So what can be done?
Freemium tiers/ad-supported streaming
Regional pricing (₹99–₹149/month)
Mobile-only or time-limited access windows
Bundling with telco or local cinema platforms
Platforms that treat piracy as a signal, not solely a violation, will unlock latent market segments and convert illegal viewership into paid subscriptions.
Pop Culture Pulse
Panchayat Season 3 leak spread via Telegram within hours, watched by millions before takedown and it significantly reduced the formal viewership.
Udta Punjab was a very important film for Anurag Kashyap but it got leaked days before its theatrical release. Despite very high buzz, the movie suffered losses.
What to Watch / Read / Hear
🎥 Watch: Tamil Rockerz: This SonyLIV series is based on the real story of Tamil Rockerz, a website that hollowed the film industry. Nearly every film or series would be pirated on this.
📖 Read: Media Piracy in Emerging Economies. This book by Joe Karaganis is an excellent research on how high price of media consumption in low-income countries lead to piracy.
🎧 Listen: A Discussion about Piracy: GeekBits Podcast. This very interesting podcast talks about the psychology of piracy, especially among teens.
From the Archives
2024: The Monkey Man, starring Dev Patel, was not released in India due to political reasons. After the unoffoicial ban on the theatrical release, no streaming platform dared to host it on their platform.
But the film was trending #1 on the piracy websites in India. Almost everyone who wanted to watch the film, has watched it, without the official release.
Takeaway: culturally resonant content may survive digital leaks, but that’s increasingly rare unless platforms match access to demand.
But to answer the question, when will people stop pirating?
There is a very simple answer to it. Piracy of media content is inevitable as long as the internet exists.
If the industry stops treating piracy as an enemy and starts looking at it as a resource, then things will change.
There is immense data on the piracy patterns of people.
Streaming platforms, more specifically, need to plan their content and pricing based on the piracy trends.
When that happens, a boom in the Indian media industry will happen.
This was Leeds1888.
For more insights from media and pop-culture, keep reading.
Vipul Agrawal | Founder & CEO, Mugafi
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