Web Traffic to Online Piracy Sites in the Billions

New research from MarkMonitor revealed just how much traffic Websites selling counterfeit and pirated content can generate.

In a study, MarkMonitor searched the Web for sites believed to be
offering counterfeit and pirated digital content tied to 22 well-known
brands. The results were narrowed down to include 43 unique sites tied
to digital piracy and 48 selling counterfeit goods.

What they found is staggering:
based on data collected throughout 2010, the top three Websites
classified as "digital piracy" sites – rapidshare.com, megavideo.com,
and megaupload.com – collectively generate more than 21 billion visits
per year. The traffic numbers for the 48 sites selling counterfeit
goods were sky-high as well, reaching a combined total of more
than 240,000 visits per day on average.

"The operators of these sites use ‘best practices’ in
online marketing, just as a legitimate marketer would," said Te Smith,
vice president of communications at MarkMonitor. "The difference, of
course, is that they’re not following all the rules. Spam,
typo-squatting, black hat SEO, linking strategies, sometimes even paid
search advertising — the scammers have a whole bag of marketing tricks
that they use to lure traffic to their sites."

For more, read the eWeek article: Online Piracy Web Traffic Reaches Billions.