The Porno Bay: People pirate porn and TV much more than music

Though the Pirate Bay is known for its namesake, the medium through which it achieves that piracy — torrents — is not inherently for pirating software and media. In fact, the most downloaded torrent of 2013 was a completely legal sampler of a new Moby album. If you think the Pirate Bay is mainly a platform to pirate Kendrick Lamar’s newest album, it turns out that one of the most people are using it to download movies, TV, and porn.
A little over one-third — 35% — of the Pirate Bay is composed of pornography torrents, second only to TV episodes and movies, which make up 44% of the Bay’s new uploads. What was once piracy’s biggest target, music, is now one of its smallest, making up just 9% of new uploads — down from the 34% makeup from 2004. The site receives around 75,000 uploads per month, which has risen over the years from just the 2,000 per month back in 2004.


It’s interesting that even though piracy essentially broke into the mainstream thanks to the ease with which people could download music without paying for it, audio is now heavily overshadowed by TV, movies, and porn. Perhaps that is because we live in an age where paying for a single album that we repeatedly listen to at the gym for a couple months straight is more bang for our buck than paying a monthly cable subscription just so we can watch our handful of weekly shows. Services like Spotify and Pandora certainly help as well.
Software and games are almost completely out, making up just 2% of the new monthly uploads.
The makeup of the popularity of the Pirate Bay’s torrent categories reveals our modern-day digital lives. Music is convenient and relatively cheap to purchase, while Steam and various indie bundles have made obtaining games as convenient and cheap as it has ever been. The movies and TV episodes that make up 44% of the index’s monthly uploads certainly speaks to the troubling state of the industries. Though instant streaming services are as popular as ever, they just can’t beat cable. TV is as good as it has ever been — almost every channel has a handful of can’t-miss shows, and certain sports like the NBA are as popular as ever and difficult to fully consume without cable. The WWE took a step toward offering users a cheap, convenient way to obtain the product, but it still couldn’t break free from the shackles of cable.

It also makes sense that porn is the second-most served media type, as it’s already widely available for free, and having porn show up on your credit card statement can lead to some awkward conversations with your significant other, parents, or whoever has access to your bill.
The makeup of the Pirate Bay is generally a good reflection on the state of digital media, and about 80% of the site’s torrents are video content. That means video content is difficult to legally obtain for one reason or another. The TV and movie industry would benefit by taking a look at the music and gaming industries and changing a few things.