In this article, MUSO’s data insights team highlights trends observed in the most recent film piracy audience data.
Universal and Peacock recently announced that they have acquired the rights to a new Exorcist trilogy for a $400 million-plus deal. A shrewd move given the Horror genre continues to show high demand amongst piracy audiences, growing by over 16% in Q2 vs Q1 of 2021. These horror movie fans are strong prospects for conversion to paying Peacock subscribers.
Horror genre demand by country. Torrents & streams, January - June 2021. Data from MUSO.com
The most popular film in June’s global piracy data was the horror movie The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (also known as The Conjuring 3), with 9.3M unlicensed streams and downloads which were largely driven by US audiences.
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021). Torrents & streams, June 2021. Data from MUSO.com
The prequels to this title also saw an increased demand amongst piracy audiences with The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 both appearing in the top 100 titles.
The Conjuring franchise follows the Annabelle films, which retell the various stories related to real-life demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. Interestingly, Annabelle Comes Home (2018) also increased in popularity, by 250% in June compared to May.
Horror genre top 10 movies by demand. Torrents & streams, June 2021. Data from MUSO.com
Another franchise demonstrating longevity is Harry Potter with 6 out of the 8 films appearing in the global piracy top 100 in June 2021. The original 2001 film Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone is the most popular of the series in MUSO’s piracy audience data.
Harry Potter franchise. Torrents & streams, January - June 2021. Data from MUSO.com
Over 85% of all piracy consumption for the Harry Potter franchise is via unlicensed streaming websites, accounting for more than 17m unlicensed streams since Jan 2021.
Harry Potter franchise. Torrents & streams by country January - June 2021. Data from MUSO.com
MUSO’s piracy data reveals insight into the global consumption of over 165,000 films and TV titles. To find out more about how MUSO data is being used to drive marketing, content acquisition, commissioning and licensing please contact the team at hello@muso.com
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MUSO is a data company that provides the most complete and trusted view of unlicensed media consumption and global piracy demand. MUSO’s unrivalled dataset measures a vast high intent audience that is not influenced by licensing restriction or platform bias. Whether protecting IP or building winning content strategies, MUSO helps companies make better decisions that drive performance, ROI and value.