Rise of illegal Kodi streaming threatens piracy crackdown

he rise of quick and easy illegal streaming services has scuppered declines in internet piracy, a government report has found.

Figures from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) showed that recent falls in the number of people accessing illegal films, music and TV shows online had stalled amid the rise of so-called “Kodi” devices, wireless set-top boxes that can stream illegal channels.

Pirates are also turning to YouTube as a source of illegal material, “ripping” songs directly from legitimate music videos on the sharing site.

The IPO’s report, which was carried out by Kantar Media and is due to be released in the coming days, found that one in four people have pirated material in the last three months. This is the same as a year ago, following consecutive years of declining piracy rates.

Since 2013, piracy has fallen from a high of 30pc of internet users, a drop that has been credited to the rise of convenient streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify replacing illegal downloads. But illegal channels have sought to replicate their success by offering on-demand streaming access instead of downloads.

Kodi boxes, which are cheap and easily available, are not illegal in themselves but they do not restrict the software meaning users can install apps that show illegal streams. The devices are commonly used to access pirated Premier League football streams, films and box sets.

Broadcasters, which have shelled out record amounts for sports rights, have grappled with the rising popularity of illegal streams and sought to have them blocked by internet providers. The IPO is currently running a consultation into internet TV boxes to determine whether stricter laws are needed.

While music and film piracy continued to fall, there was a marked increase in the number of people accessing TV shows illegally. The report found that 16pc of people who accessed TV shows illegally used Kodi and 17pc used the streaming site Putlocker, the two most popular resources.

“Ironically, it is innovation that benefits those looking to undermine intellectual property rights and benefit financially from copyright infringement,” said Ros Lynch, Copyright and IP Enforcement Director at the IPO. “There has never been more choice or flexibility for consumers of TV and music, however illicit streaming devices and stream-ripping are threatening this progress.”

Music pirates are turning to mp3 ripping sites that download the audio from YouTube into an mp3 file. A separate report from rights body PRS for Music found 15pc of internet users had engaged in stream-ripping, and that the phenomenon had risen by 141.3 per cent in two years.