Katarzyna Petru
It was supposed to be simple: you pay one subscription and watch what you want. No ads, no waiting, no gymnastics with access. That was the promise that a decade ago pulled the whole world into the streaming revolution. Meanwhile, in 2025, we wake up to a reality where this revolution has started to resemble the junky renaissance of cable TV. More expensive, tighter, less convenient. So it’s no wonder that digital piracy is coming back not as a whim, but as a defensive reaction from users.
A few years ago, it seemed that piracy would cease to interest even the most passionate torrent users. Why dig through forums looking for links to the latest episode of “Breaking Bad,” when Netflix offered the same in HD quality for a few dozen złoty a month? Comfort killed pirate romance. And suddenly… everything turned upside down.
The pirate flag is flying again
The data leaves no illusions. According to the company MUSO, which monitors the global turnover of illegal content, in 2020, the number of visits to pirate websites dropped to a record low - about 130 billion. However, by 2024, the number exploded to 216 billion. This is not a mistake in the statistics. It is a great comeback. Importantly, piracy itself has changed. No one is downloading folders like “WEbrip_RARBG_FINAL” anymore. 96 percent of the pirate consumption of movies and series in 2023 came from illegal streaming – mainly IPTV. No waiting, no downloading, no fuss.
In the USA, one in three users admits to pirating while also having legal subscriptions. That says it all. In Europe, the average internet user visits pirate sites about 10 times a month. In Poland, it’s “only” eight – but on a national scale, that translates to 129 million visits per month. Users want to watch. It’s just that legal platforms are starting to throw them out the door.
How the Industry Killed the Golden Age of Streaming
Streaming has become a victim of its own success. When Netflix proved that simple, cheap, and global access works, corporations saw an opportunity. Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount – everyone wanted "their Netflix." The problem was that users do not need five platforms. They need one. Convenient. As a result, a fragmented landscape emerged where:
You can watch "Stranger Things" only on Netflix,
"The Mandalorian" – only on Disney+,
"The Sopranos" – exclusively on Max,
and "Severance" – on Apple TV+.
Everything separately. Everything for a separate fee. The full set of subscriptions now costs more than the old cable service that streaming was supposed to replace. Instead of order – chaos. Instead of convenience – jumping between apps. Instead of quality – mass production.
Prices, Ads, Limitations. The Coffin Has Many Nails
The price rollercoaster has only worsened the situation.
67 zł for Netflix Premium has become the norm if you want to watch in 4K instead of battling pixelated soup.
Services have started introducing ads, even in paid plans.
Lowering the bitrate has made pirate Blu-ray rips look better than legal streams.
On top of that, there is the fight against "account sharing," a feature that has been part of the unwritten user agreement for years. Netflix was the first to take action, Disney+ joined in, and the rest are just waiting to do the same. When you pay more and more for a worse product, the choice becomes obvious.
You own nothing – and you don’t know when it will disappear
In recent years, platforms have started to remove… their own productions.
Disney+ removed the series “Willow” a few months after its premiere.
HBO Max removed “Westworld,” one of the icons of so-called peak TV.
These titles did not go to competitors. They simply ceased to exist in legal circulation. Users pay for access that can evaporate overnight. It’s no wonder that the movement of “data hoarders” is growing – people archiving content out of fear that otherwise it will be lost forever. Ironically, piracy plays the role of… a cultural archive.
Streaming Death Spiral
The streaming market has reached a point where the current model is not financially sustainable. Consolidations are accelerating:
Netflix is acquiring Warner Bros. and HBO,
Disney+ is merging with Hulu,
Paramount is seeking rescue,
telecoms are building "all-in-one" packages.
In short: we are going back to cable. Only it's more expensive, difficult, and less stable.
And no, this is not a manifesto for piracy. Ordinary users want to pay for content – the proof was the golden decade of streaming. But when the legal path becomes a maze of fees, ads, and disappearing productions, it's natural that some viewers will start looking for a more convenient way. Not always legal. Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve, summed it up back in 2011:
"Piracy is almost always a result of a service problem, not a pricing problem."
In 2025, this sounds more relevant than ever.
Source: NEXTgazeta
