- FIA registered 322 cases against intellectual property rights infringers in 2025
- Tamasha audience hit 48.9 million during PSL before easing as sports activity declined
KARACHI: Pakistani streaming platforms are warning that widespread digital piracy is eroding subscription and advertising revenues as companies spend heavily on sports and entertainment rights to capture the country’s rapidly expanding online audiences.
The stakes are rising as the value of sports broadcasting increases. Earlier this year, the Pakistan Cricket Board said domestic television and live-streaming rights for the Pakistan Super League’s 2026-29 cycle attracted a record Rs26.11 billion ($94.2 million) offer, the highest for media rights in Pakistan cricket history.
Pakistan also remains on the United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Watch List for intellectual property protection and enforcement, with its 2026 report saying piracy remained widespread, including for digital content and software, despite recent enforcement efforts.
“We make money when we sell subscriptions,” Ammar Hassan, chief executive officer of streaming platform Myco, told Arab News. “And people only buy a subscription when they are assured that this is exclusively available in only one place.”
Myco holds digital rights in Pakistan for International Cricket Council events through 2027, covering major men’s and women’s tournaments. The ICC said when announcing the agreement last November that Myco would work with streaming platforms Tamasha, Tapmad and ARY Zap to distribute its events digitally in Pakistan.
Hassan said premium content rights could cost millions of dollars and their commercial value depended on exclusivity. When the same content became available through unauthorized services, he said, viewers had less reason to pay for legitimate subscriptions.
Myco had also encountered unauthorized feeds while streaming English Premier League content, including through cable and Internet Protocol Television, or IPTV, services, he added.
“We saw that everyone from cable operators to some formalized cable companies were also showing international illegal feeds,” Hassan said, adding that Myco had sought assistance from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, or PEMRA, to tackle such broadcasts.
Begin, another subscription-based streaming platform, said it was increasing spending on content despite persistent piracy around major sporting events.
“Over the last year we have almost doubled our content procurement budgets,” Muhammad Saffie Ahsan, product and growth lead at Begin, told Arab News.
Ahsan said Begin’s audience had grown from around 200,000 to 3.2 million users over roughly 18 months but the company could not precisely calculate how much revenue it lost to piracy.
During a recent El Clasico match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, Begin identified more than 35 websites carrying pirated content, Ahsan said. Some were reported to relevant agencies and taken down but later resurfaced under different domain names.
Piracy was also a recurring concern when Begin negotiated with international media companies over broadcasting rights in Pakistan, he added.
“The first question is always piracy,” Ahsan said. “‘If we give you the rights, how do you guys going to monetize it when majority of your audiences are used to piracy website?’”
Piracy can hurt streaming businesses through both subscriptions and advertising head of growth at Tamasha. When viewers turn to illegal streams, legitimate platforms lose both paying subscribers and audience numbers used to attract advertisers
The importance of live sports to Pakistan’s streaming market is reflected in Tamasha’s audience figures. The platform had 48.9 million active users in the first quarter of 2026 as the Pakistan Super League drove traffic, according to parent company VEON. Its audience eased to 38.7 million in the second quarter as major sporting activity declined.
Tamasha charges Rs360 ($1.30) per month for its subscription service and has continued to invest in sports rights. In July 2025, it secured exclusive digital streaming rights in Pakistan for Asia Cup tournaments through 2027, covering more than 150 match days.
Pakistan has taken steps to strengthen intellectual property enforcement. In September 2025, the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan, or IPO-Pakistan, launched an online system allowing rights holders to file and track complaints involving piracy and counterfeiting.
But the USTR said in its 2026 report that Pakistan had made “limited substantive progress” on intellectual property protection and enforcement and that counterfeiting and piracy remained widespread. It cited reports of numerous cable operators providing pirated content and said the FIA registered 322 cases against intellectual property rights infringers in 2025.
“However, these efforts have yet to result in significant improvements,” the USTR said.
Arab News reached out to IPO-Pakistan for comment on its enforcement efforts against digital piracy but did not receive a response.
For some creators, unauthorized distribution can increase exposure but still carries an economic cost.
“You might benefit in terms of marketing and viewership, but there is always a financial hit,” filmmaker Zainab Nasir told Arab News.
As streaming platforms spend more on premium programming and sports rights command increasingly large sums, executives say the larger question is whether Pakistan can build a sustainable homegrown streaming industry while content bought for exclusive distribution remains widely available through unauthorized services.
“I hope to see a future where exclusive content which is bought in millions can be protected and an industry can be built in Pakistan,” Hassan said.
