Analysts at the nonprofit Digital Citizens Alliance and anti-piracy firm White Bullet have published a study finding that pirates make over than $1.34 billion in advertising on sites and apps that distribute pirated films, TV series, games and live broadcasts.
About a third of the pirated sites and applications studied contained various types of malicious ads: fake ads, fraudulent promotions, and images that triggered the download of malware when clicked.
At the same time, the researchers note that such malware can be profitable for advertisers. For example, adware automatically displays ads when a user goes online, redirects users’ browsers to certain advertisements, although it can also contain trojans and keyloggers that can steal credentials and other confidential data.
The study examined 664 billion ad impressions across approximately 6,000 popular pirate sites and 900 apps (between June 2020 and May 2021). By comparing impressions to an ad revenue matrix, the researchers determined that ad revenue generated approximately $1 billion a year for website owners and more than $ 250 million for apps.
While there are significantly more pirated sites so far, the report notes that the app market is growing at a faster pace.
Let me remind you that we also said that Underground marketplace Hydra makes $1.37 billion in cryptocurrency transactions.
