Report: Live event piracy soars
September 9, 2025
A report by Grant Thornton, produced in collaboration with the Live Content Coalition, reveals that illegal streaming of sports and other live events continues to rise, reinforcing that piracy remains one of the main threats to rights holders. Two years after the European Commission published its Recommendation to combat this issue, the data shows that not only does the problem persist, but it is worsening.
In 2024, at least 10.8 million takedown notices were sent to digital intermediaries (DSPs, online platforms and others) for unauthorised live broadcasts. In just the first half of 2025, that figure surged to 26.2 million over an 18-month period—representing a 142 per cent increase in this first half of the year. Furthermore, 89 per cent of these notices failed to result in the suspension of illegal broadcasts, according to the report.
Ineffective Enforcement and Delays in Response
As the data confirms the large-scale nature of live event piracy, the report also highlights a decline in the effectiveness of responses. Only 11 per cent of the notices led to the suspension of illegal streams over the 18-month period. In contrast, the suspension rate was 19 per cent in the second half of 2024 but dropped dramatically to just 5 per cent in the first half of 2025.
The study also analyses the slow response times from intermediaries. Only 6 per cent of violations were processed within 30 minutes of notification, while 21 per cent took over two hours.
Current Challenges with Intermediaries
Between January 2024 and June 2025, Dedicated Server Providers (DSPs) received 12 million notices annually,accounting for 46 per cent of all takedowns. These providers, who supply and manage the technical infrastructure, physical servers and network capacity used by many illegal platforms, have become key players in the live content ecosystem. Online platforms accounted for 5 per cent of the notices, while the remaining 49 per cent were directed at ‘Other Online Infrastructure Providers’, such as CDNs and reverse proxy services.
Most notices were concentrated among DSPs and other hosting providers, with a very low effectiveness rate: 91 per cent and 97 per cent, respectively, of the notices did not result in suspensions. In contrast, online platforms achieved a 97 per cent suspension rate, although they continue to face a serious recurrence problem, with 90 per cent of the illegal broadcasts reappearing within 24 hours.
In 2025, the number of notices sent to other hosting providers such as Cloudflare also increased. These are sometimes used to conceal the servers hosting pirated content, making anti-piracy enforcement more difficult.
The Need for a Coordinated Response
The report further notes that cooperation agreements remain limited, accounting for just 5 per cent of all notices issued during 2024 and the first half of 2025.
This season, La Liga launched a new awareness campaign under the slogan “You get pirated football. They get you”. The campaign aims to inform fans about the risks of using unofficial streams—not just the damage it causes to the sport, but the risks users face, including malware, identity theft, and financial fraud.
With the European Commission’s Recommendation set to be reviewed in November 2025, LALIGA underscores the urgent need for a coordinated response combining technology, public awareness, institutional cooperation and legal action to protect the value of sport and other live events, safeguard fans and users, and ensure the sustainability of these events against illegal streaming.