Oscar Winner ‘Anora’ Sees Massive Surge in Pirate Downloads

Anora was the big winner at the Oscars a week ago, securing awards for best picture, actress, and director, among others. This major achievement puts the movie in the spotlight and increases interest through both legal and illegal channels. Fresh data collected by TorrentFreak shows that pirate downloads surged right after the awards ceremony ended.

 Almost two decades ago, The Pirate Bay supported the “OscarTorrents” project, which aimed to be a pirates’ counterweight to Hollywood’s annual awards show.

At the time, mass movie piracy was still a relative fringe activity, with no instant streaming options available. Nonetheless, more than 100,000 people voted for their own movie favorites.

While the OscarTorrents project was a clear display of defiance, the outcome of the voting was rather mainstream. The Departed was crowned ‘Best Picture’ in the official Oscars ceremony, as well as in the pirate equivalent, and many of the other winners were also identical.

2025 Oscars

Fast-forward to the present day, and pirates continue to be aligned with the mainstream public, perhaps more than ever. Whenever a movie or TV show is in the news, interest typically surges through both legal and illegal channels.

Winning an Oscar is arguably the best thing that can happen to a movie from a PR-perspective. This undoubtedly results in more legal sales and streams, a trend that’s mimicked on pirate sites.

This phenomenon was confirmed once again following the 97th Academy Awards eight days ago. With five Oscars, including the main ‘Best Picture’ award, Sean Baker’s comedy drama Anora was the undisputed winner.

Anora Piracy Surge

High-quality pirated copies of the film had already been available online since mid-December, and while there was some interest in Anora, that paled in comparison to the download surge that took place after the awards.

Based on a sample of torrent activity tracked by IKnow, we can report that pirated downloads of Anora more than quadrupled this week. The chart below shows the daily estimated downloads for three Oscar nominees that were widely available on pirate sites. Anora’s numbers clearly stand out here.

The fact that Anora is one of the lowest grossing best picture winners in recent history, likely plays a part in this surge in demand. Many people, including pirates, hadn’t seen the film yet.

Limited Oscars Impact

The Substance, which won an Oscar for ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling’ also saw a small bump in downloads, but that paled in comparison to Anora.

Wicked, which won Oscars for ‘Best Production Design’ and ‘Best Costume’, saw no significant increase in interest. This confirms yet again that most attention goes out to the best picture winner.

All in all, it’s safe to say that after 97 years, the Academy Awards ceremony is as relevant today as it has ever been. While people now have the freedom to watch what they want, whenever they want, their free choice continues to be directed by external forces.

As with all trends today, the initial piracy boosts didn’t last long. Downloads already started to drop off after a day. However, interest in Anora may remain elevated for a while.

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Note: The data used in this article comes from Iknow, which tracks torrent downloads through DHT and PEX. While it may not be able to track all downloads, it’s a substantial sample. This sample only looks at torrent downloads. Views on streaming platforms, direct downloads, and other piracy sources can’t be measured directly. That said, we assume that the trend will be similar there.

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