Adding insult to the severely injured entertainment industry, which has all but disappeared during the coronavirus pandemic, online piracy is back, and bigger than ever.
Web traffic to illegal film downloading sites surged by 41% in the US during the last seven days of March, compared to the last week of February, according to London-based online piracy watchdog Muso.
Meanwhile, the UK saw a similar increase with 43%, while other countries saw even greater spikes, such as Spain (50%), India (62%) and Italy (66%).
Despite the jump in illegal film downloads, visits to TV piracy sites remain the top destination between the two. Viewership increased marginally compared to film downloads, by just 8.7% in the US.