White Bullet’s piracy demonetising programmes drastically reduce ad revenues to piracy websites across Europe, analysis finds

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Analysis of White Bullet’s demonetisation programmes reveals that 5bn ad impressions were blocked from piracy websites in 2021

London, UK 19th May 2022: IP protection and cybersafety company White Bullet logged enormous reductions in programmatic advertising to illegal, ad-funded piracy websites across Europe during 2021, according to a new analysis of its demonetisation programmes.

White Bullet works with a range of rights owners, media companies and ad partners to stop ads flowing to piracy websites and apps, and with partners undertakes outreach to brands and ad agencies to raise awareness of their ad supply chain problems.

An enormous 83% of brands significantly reduced ad impressions from landing on websites hosting pirate content after outreach from White Bullet and its client partners. This translates to 5bn blocked ad impressions and nearly US$20m diverted away from piracy websites and moved instead to legitimate publishers.

Peter Szyszko, CEO and Founder of White Bullet, comments: “Following integration with White Bullet, clients are in a position to reassure advertisers that their advertising campaigns will not appear on piracy websites, which otherwise

wastes valuable marketing budget and funds criminals. Additionally, our partners use our data to reach out to brands which fund piracy websites. The data shows this awareness is paying off, with so much advertising diverted instead to legitimate businesses instead of criminals.

“It’s clear that more outreach means more awareness, so we look forward to working with more stakeholders,” Szyszko adds. “Greater awareness leads to increased uptake of blocking tools and, ultimately, more pirate ad-blocking means more money for legitimate media distributors. With our growing team and our market-leading technologies, we are committed to continuing to help brands, advertisers, regulators and rights owners in the ongoing fight against online piracy in 2022 and beyond. Our mission is a cleaner, safer, higher-performing media ecosystem and we will continue to play a key role in the ongoing global fight against piracy.”

Leading brands, agencies and advertisers are increasingly aware of the need for collaboration and innovative, technology-driven solutions to tackle the scourge of piracy, says Szyszko. Consequently, White Bullet expanded its team earlier this year with the appointment of a number of additional anti-piracy and brand safety experts. This investment follows increased demand for its services globally as it continues to tackle advertising-funded digital piracy.

White Bullet’s platform detects piracy across multiple digital ecosystems, tracking the all-important financial impact of misdirected advertising with the help of AI and machine learning. Its Intellectual Property Infringement Platform (IPIP) helps to take the profit out of intellectual property crime: it looks for IP-infringing content, examines each infringement's context, and determines structural violation on a commercial scale - providing accurate piracy risk scores based on this analysis.

IPIP connects rights owners and the advertising industry with real-time risk data, and has prevented millions of pounds of ad spend from funding criminal activity through collaboration with brands, advertisers, regulators and rights owners.

For more information:

Peter Szyszko

peter.szyszko@white-bullet.com

About White Bullet Solutions

Founded in 2013 by a leadership team of experienced Intellectual Property lawyers from the media and advertising industries, White Bullet offers companies piracy risk data and protection, brand safety solutions, and full transparency on their advertising placement and digital supply chains.

White Bullet works collaboratively with brands, policymakers, and the advertising industry to safeguard advertising spend and prevent ad placements from appearing on IP Infringing domains and apps. White Bullet is a certified anti-piracy solutions provider under the advertising industry regulator TAG and is a stakeholder to the EU Commission Memorandum of Understanding on Advertising and IPR.

White Bullet comprises IP experts and dedicated technical engineers who specialize in AI, big data models, and predictive machine learning. The team includes highly skilled investigators and data analysts experienced in tackling the funding and distribution of pirated content. With offices in London, New York, and Los Angeles, White Bullet advises policymakers and government bodies on regulatory and compliance programmes globally.