Amazon, Google and Facebook among prominent companies placing ads on pirated platforms.
According to a report by Digital Citizens Alliance and White Bullet, websites offering stolen content like movies and TV shows make $1.34 billion in advertising revenues annually. Several Fortune 500 companies are among the advertisers on these illegal sites.
As a result of a year-long investigation, the report states that pirate operators made around $100 million from ad placements. The top piracy websites generated $1.08 billion in ad revenues. The top five of these websites generated an average of $18.3 million. Similarly, top piracy apps made $259 million.
Amazon, Google and Facebook make for a majority (73%) of all significant brand advertising that investigators spotted on piracy apps in the past year. However, the frequency of Amazon ads on such platforms has declined significantly.
[5 minute read]
