Every time a new combatant enters the streaming wars, the audience thins out just a little further given that there are already so many options available. The Coronavirus pandemic has sent the global economy into a slump, but even when things were looking much rosier, there weren’t a lot of regular folks who would’ve been willing or even financially able to have a subscription fee to Netflix, Amazon, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu, Peacock and Apple TV+ coming out of their bank account every month.
The increased levels of competition in the marketplace means that there are millions who don’t subscribe to a service that hosts many of their favorite films and TV shows, which has inevitably led to a surge in piracy. Wonder Woman 1984 may have become the most-watched streaming exclusive of 2020 after arriving on Christmas Day, but with theaters still closed around the world and HBO Max only available in the United States, the studio will be kidding themselves if they don’t think it’ll be the most pirated movie of last year as well.
On the television front, meanwhile, Game of Thrones tended to reign as the most illegally downloaded series on the airwaves, but after the HBO smash hit wrapped up with a divisive eighth and final season, The Mandalorian has swooped in to take the crown. The Star Wars spinoff was five times more popular than anything else in the Disney Plus library while season 2 was in full swing, and from the looks of things, there were many more viewers enjoying Mando and Baby Yoda’s adventures that didn’t pay for the privilege.
Second place went to Amazon’s subversive superhero show The Boys, while HBO’s Westworld pitched up in third. Disney have been keen to tout the success of The Mandalorian to anyone that’ll listen, but you can guarantee this is one particular accolade they won’t be too happy about.
