Stay-at-home Britain appears to be becoming a nation of streaming pirates, with traffic to illegal movie and TV sites surging since lockdown measures were introduced.
In the last week of March, visits to film piracy sites were up by 57% compared with the last week of February. Sites allowing viewers to illegally watch TV shows and series saw a 29% increase across the same period.
In total there were more than 300m visits to sites allowing film and TV content to be downloaded illegally last month, as millions of homebound Britons hunted out more home entertainment to pass the time.
“Piracy or unlicensed consumption trends are closely linked to paid-for or licensed content,” said Andy Chatterley, the chief executive of Muso, which tracks piracy trends. “So just as Netflix has seen large subscriber gains, we have seen a significant spike in visits to film and TV piracy sites. Demand for content via piracy has grown exponentially.”
As the nation stays home, viewing levels are soaring, with households watching an average of five hours more TV each week than before lockdown, according to the TV marketing body Thinkbox.
A report on lockdown TV habits noted a penchant for lighter fare, with viewing of comedy shows up 40% in the first three weeks. Nostalgia comedy was popular, with viewing of Only Fools and Horses on Gold up 20% year on year and Last of the Summer Wine up 30%.
Family nights in are also back on the agenda, with shared TV viewing up 37% since lockdown began. Shows including Channel 4’s Gogglebox (up 41%), and channels such as Sky Cinema, which has lots of family-friendly films (up 48%), have benefited.
“TV is again uniting Britain,” said Ben Page, the chief executive of Ipsos Mori, which conducted the research for Thinkbox. “New routines and habits are emerging, with TV bringing households together to seek comfort in shared experiences.”
Sky reported a “box-set effect” among its pay-TV customers with a 26% increase in downloads of series ranging from Game of Thrones to Save Me Too and Sex and the City, hitting 123m in the period from 17 March to 5 April.
Accessing apps such as Netflix and YouTube via Sky is also booming, up by a third over the same period with more than 50m requests by viewers.
“Interestingly, we’re not just seeing viewers watch comedies or old classics to escape these uncertain times,” said Zai Bennett, managing director of content at Sky. “We’re seeing that people are looking for variety in lockdown, from premium dramas and cinematic comedy as well as more escapist TV.”
