More Than 40,000 Illegal WC Streams Were Detected, Research Shows

Research by Viaccess-Orca (VO) revealed more than 40,000 illegal streaming links were detected during the 2018 World Cup held in Russia, according to SOCCEREX. The content production and data solutions company released a report "detailing the effectiveness" of the firm's success in combating piracy and illegal streaming during the tournament. The statistics, which cover the entirety of the 32-day competition, revealed that 40,713 piracy links were detected across all platforms. VO partnered with content protection company LeakID "in an attempt to track and fight illegal streaming sites during the competition." The results of the research "highlighted the critical role played by social media in the number of pirate networks being located." A total of 14,615 links were discovered on social media sites, with 8,462 on Facebook and a further 1,988 on YouTube. These links attracted 41,371,139 viewers, according to the VO data (SOCCEREX, 9/10).