The full-length or large clips of the summer blockbusters of Hollywood movies are illegally posted by the pirates to YouTube. These publishers have commercialised the stolen content by using YouTube Partner Program, making money directly out of copyright-violating content. Studios give takedown notices, but the number of new uploads and their speed are so large that it becomes difficult to enforce.

Highlights:

• Pirates upload copyrighted blockbuster films to YouTube.
• Infringing channels monetize these uploads via YouTube's ad system.
• Uploaders evade detection using tactics like altered metadata.
• Studios face overwhelming volumes of infringing content.
• The YouTube piracy results in lost revenue for rights holders.

The pirates quickly make high quality copies of films such as new releases of a summer to a short time before the film was even released. These uploads are discoursed by deceitful titles and thumbnails. The commercialisation of this YouTube piracy through the advertising supported platform of YouTube makes this YouTube piracy as a direct source of revenue to the uploaders.

The amount of uploads that are infringing poses the enforcers with a big challenge. Even though studios file thousands of takedown requests every day, new copies are often reinstated within several channels practically instantly after the notification. This is so that monetized views can build up after which the takedowns become operational in perpetuating the YouTube piracy operations.

In addition to YouTube, Hollywood is mounting pressure on YouTube to have better proactive filtering and better punishment of repeat infringers including demonetization and termination of the channel. Under pressure, studios argue that this is an issue that YouTube has to address more. YouTube claims to spend money on noticing tools and that it follows takedown demands under DMCA. This constant YouTube pirating is a constant leakage of money.