How Much Money Torrent Sites Like The Pirate Bay And KickassTorrents Make?

The popularity of torrent websites and their explosive growth isn’t hidden from anybody. But, how much money torrent sites make? A 2014 study claims that top torrent websites earn as much as $4.4 million in ad revenue. On the other hand, a legal filing in

KickassTorrents fiasco estimated the site’s annual ad revenue in the range of $12.5 million to $22.3 million.
Mushrooming of new players and demise of the existing ones is a common tale in the world of torrent websites. This also raises the question regarding the motivation that drives the site operators to build new torrent websites and do something that’s illegal in the eye of law.

A 2014 report from Digital Citizens Alliance, a United States non-profit focused on internet safety issues, had claimed that torrent websites like The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents, etc., generate a humungous profit.

The report’s summary states that the ad-supported content theft is a real and growing threat that hurts content creators and undermines the credibility of the advertising industry.

How Much Money Torrent Sites make?

In last year’s KickassTorrents crackdown and the legal developments that followed, KAT’s estimated net worth was more than $54 million, with estimated annual ad revenue in the range of $12.5 million to $22.3 million.

MediaLink LLC, commissioned by Digital Citizens Alliance, found that media theft websites (torrent, streaming, direct download) earn about $227 million in annual ad revenue. It should be noted that this figure is nowhere close to the harm done to the creative and entertainment industry. As this figure is from 2014, it’s bound to increase in the past three years.

In the study of 40 largest websites (here are the most popular ones) that are only supported by ads, it was found that they earned an average $4.4 million on an annual basis. Talking about the BitTorrent giants like The Pirate Bay, their earning topped $6 million. Moreover, the smaller players can make $100,000 from display advertising.

The Digital Citizens Alliance states that stealing copyrighted content and setting up a website can be done with minimal technical expertise. Unlike other websites, attracting traffic needs little efforts.

Digital Citizens Alliance concludes the report by adding that advertisers and ad agencies must enhance their best practices standards. They must use the technology to filter content theft websites. Alliance also recommends that just as brands refrain themselves from purchasing ad slots on pornographic or hate websites, they must avoid advertising on torrent websites.

You can find the complete Digital Citizens Alliance report here.

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