Nearly a year after its debut, one of Marvel Studios' Disney+ shows made the list as one of 2022's most-pirated TV series.
Since the MCU began back in 2008, the franchise has been the victim of widespread pirating.
While recent measures, like the introduction of Disney+, have sought to alleviate that, it is still happening. Just last year, the most-pirated film online was the MCU's Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is harder to watch because of its lack of streaming availability.
But with every Marvel Studios TV series having a home on Disney's streaming hub, do they still have the same demand amongst online pirates? Well for at least one of them, they do.
Moon Knight Amongst 2022's Most-Pirated
According to Variety, Moon Knight was one of the most-pirated TV series in 2022.
The Oscar Isaac-led series is the only Marvel Studios inclusion in the top 10, sitting fifth on the list.
The data, which was collected by the piracy-focused research firm Muso and shared exclusively with Variety, had Moon Knight with 9% of the Top 10 piracy demand from 2022, with HBO heavy-hitter House of the Dragon topping the list with 17%.
Other entries in the top 10 include Rick and Morty Season 6 (12%), Amazon Prime's The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (7%), and fan-favorite anime Chainsaw Man (13%).
The full list can be seen below:
- House of the Dragon - 17%
- Chainsaw Man - 13%
- Running Man - 12%
- Rick and Morty - Season 6 - 12%
- Moon Knight - 9%
- Bleach - Season 1 - 9%
- The Eminence in Shadow - 8%
- The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power - 7%
- Spy x Family - 7%
- The Rising of the Shield Hero - 6%
This comes after Marvel dominated this list in 2021, with five of the top 10 being the MCU series.
Why Moon Knight's Piracy Was So High
While Spider-Man: No Way Home's high level of privacy can be traced back to a coincidental slurry of a lack of streaming availability, demand for the MCU threequel, and almost an entire year of piracy data to pull on, Moon Knight's case is a little less complicated.
The biggest reason why Oscar Isaac's MCU debut popped up on a list like this is simply that it was released so early in the year.
It is the only MCU entrant, and it was the first of Marvel's 2022 streaming ventures to see the light of day. It was out there longer than nearly every other show on this list, so it has almost the entire calendar year to draw data from.
The reason it is not higher is because of Disney+'s widespread adoption globally. Internationally, HBO content and a lot of anime can be hard to access, so series like House of the Dragon, Chainsaw Man, or Spy x Family climb lists like these fast.
Whereas, Disney+ is easily accessible at a reasonable price point in almost every country across the globe, making Moon Knight less desirable amongst online pirates.
It is interesting though that Moon Knight was the only Marvel Studios inclusion. Last year, every MCU series that was released made this list; shows like Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law did not appear to be as in demand.
This could have been because of middling reviews for both, the pair of series taking on more niche genres (high-school coming-of-age story and legal comedy), or simply the growth in Disney+ subscribers as the year went on.
Moon Knight is available to stream now on Disney+.
