According to new data, the United States of America is now the world’s largest country for manga piracy.
Data analytics firm MUSO recently released its “2023 Piracy Data Review by Industry,” which revealed that the United States is the top contributor to comic book piracy, accounting for more than 13% of total global piracy traffic. Additionally, manga is the most pirated publishing medium, comprising 69% of all pirated published material in the world. This includes novels, web novels, and audiobooks. Publishing piracy even surpassed film piracy to become the second most pirated medium in 2020, behind only television piracy, increasing by 7.4% in 2023.
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MUSO also revealed which TV series were the most pirated in 2023, with eight of the top 10 titles belonging to anime. The total number of copyright infringements increased 6.7% compared to 2022, accounting for an estimated total of 224.9 billion visits last year. MUSO emphasized that these increases “underscore the urgent need for industries to understand the changes that continue to drive consumers toward unlicensed channels.”
Piracy remains a major problem for the Anime and Manga industry
This report on the sharp rise in manga piracy comes just a week after two individuals were arrested on suspicion of leaking Weekly Shonen Jump manga ahead of its scheduled release date. In response, several major One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen leakers have shut down their websites and Discords, possibly in anticipation of police investigations. Korean webcomics and manhwa could be listed as manga piracy, something Kakao Entertainment Korea has taken steps to combat recently. This includes forcing the popular Tachiyomi app to stop development, as well as arresting a novel website owner collaborating with the US government.
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The manga industry is a huge industry and continues to grow with each passing year. Popular Japanese manga app Piccoma reached a total transaction volume of $675 million in 2023 — the 17th highest in the world of any app type. Excluding games, Piccoma ranks behind only TikTok, YouTube, Disney+, Tinder, Google One and HBO Max. Legal distributors of all media are using many different avenues to fight piracy, from arrests to officially releasing weekly free chapters and simulpubs, all in the hope of Hopefully, 224.9 billion pirated visits will one day become zero.
Source: MUSO via Torrent Freak