Hawkeye and Venom: Let There Be Carnage Reportedly the Most Shared Titles on Pirating Networks and Communities

Marvel's Hawkeye and Sony's Venom: Let There Be Carnage may have been two of entertainment's more eagerly anticipated projects in terms of television shows and movies respectively, and it seems that anticipation hasn't been limited to those with subscriptions to streaming services. According to a new report (via Deadline), the two projects are the most-shared titles on pirated networks and in pirating communities.

Per the report, Hawkeye, which debuted on Disney+ last Wednesday, was the most shared television series for the week of November 22-28 with Amazon's The Wheel of Time coming in second. Showtime's Dexter: New Blood, Paramount+'s Star Trek: Discovery, Netflix's Arcane, and Disney+'s The Beatles: Get Back also made the list of most-pirated. On the movie side, Venom: Let There Be Carnage was top of the list with Netflix's Red Notice, HBO Max's Dune, Disney+'s Black Widow, and AppleTV+'s Finch all making the list as well.

As for why these properties are being pirated, that can be chalked up as a danger of streaming. The high quality of streaming entertainment makes it relatively easy to pirate clean copies of movies or television. It's that streaming availability that accounts for the delay between theatrical release and pirating popularity in the case of Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

And while there are obvious issues for streamers and studios when it comes to piracy in terms of lost revenue from subscriptions and on-demand purchases, piracy can have an impact on the projects being pirated. In terms of viewership, according to Samba TV, 1.5 million U.S. households watched Hawkeye over the 5-day Thanksgiving holiday – a million less than what Loki brought in over its first five days. While piracy is not the only reason for Hawkeye's viewership numbers, it's likely a contributing factor.

It will be interesting if both Hawkeye and Venom: Let There Be Carnage continue to top the most-pirated list in the coming weeks.

Hawkeye is now streaming on Disney+. Venom: Let There Be Carnage is now streaming on-demand and will be released on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 14th.

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