Piracy sites advertising: how do ads end up on pirated content?
Part of Brand suitability
The short answer
Ads reach piracy sites through open auctions where no person chose the site, through mislabeled or changing URLs, and through pirate apps that keep running after app stores remove them. The legacy suitability framework puts copyright infringement at the floor. Buyers keep piracy off a plan with domain and app exclusion lists, site review and a written incident process.
Key takeaways
- Pirating, copyright infringement and counterfeiting sit at the floor of the legacy framework; news and education about piracy are graded above it.
- An ads.txt file proves who the domain owner authorized to sell ads, not that the site has rights to the films or shows it streams.
- TAG's Brand Safety Certified guidelines require pirate domain and pirate mobile app filtering for certified buyers, sellers and intermediaries.
- After an incident, exclude the placement at once, report it to the selling partners, and record what let it through.
Why is online piracy a brand safety category?
Because it sits at the floor of the legacy framework. The legacy Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework, published by the Brand Safety Institute (opens in a new tab), gives Online Piracy its own category and puts "Pirating, Copyright infringement, & Counterfeiting" at the floor. The World Federation of Advertisers discontinued GARM in August 2024. Its Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework is a legacy reference, not an operating standard or certification. The brand suitability guide explains how the floor relates to each brand's own settings.
| Level | Framework wording | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Floor | "Pirating, Copyright infringement, & Counterfeiting" | A site streaming new film releases without a license |
| High risk | "Glamorization or gratuitous depiction of Online Piracy" | A video bragging about beating a streaming service's protections |
| Medium risk | "Dramatic depiction of Online Piracy presented in the context of entertainment"; "Breaking News or Op-Ed coverage of Online Piracy" | A heist film review; a same day report on a site takedown |
| Low risk | "Educational, informative, scientific treatment of Online Piracy"; "News feature stories on the subject" | An explainer on how licensing windows work |
There is a safety reason as well as a rights reason. The US Federal Trade Commission's consumer alert on illegal streaming apps (opens in a new tab), published May 2, 2019, warns: "If you download one of these illegal pirate apps or add-ons, the chances are good that you'll also download malware." A brand's ad on such a page sits beside a risk to the reader's own device. IAB Tech Lab's implementation guide (opens in a new tab) reflects the link, mapping both the old Copyright Infringement and Spyware/Malware categories to Online piracy (mm3UXx).
How do ads end up on piracy websites?
A buyer does not have to choose a piracy site for an ad to land there. Ads arrive through the gaps between what a bid request says and what a page shows. Google's Display & Video 360 help (opens in a new tab) admits that "Sometimes impressions are served near unsafe content despite pre-bid blocking", and names three causes: the platform "receives inaccurate URLs," "the site is in an unsupported language," or "site content is changed between the time inventory is bid on, and when ads are served."
Apps add a second path. The Trustworthy Accountability Group's brand safety page (opens in a new tab) describes its Pirate Mobile App List as a list of "mobile apps that were removed from App Stores for infringing", noting that such apps may stay active on the devices that installed them. Removal from a store does not remove an installed app from a phone.
What industry programs fight ads on piracy sites?
TAG runs the industry certification program that covers piracy. Its Brand Safety Certified Guidelines (opens in a new tab), version 5.0 dated July 2026, absorbed TAG's Certified Against Piracy requirements in the July 2021 version 2.0, according to the change log. Several sections apply directly to piracy.
| Section | Requirement | Who it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 4.8 | Employ pirate mobile app filtering "for all advertising displayed in a mobile app environment" | Direct buyers, direct sellers, intermediaries, anti-piracy providers |
| 4.9 | Employ "pirate domain detection and removal for all digital advertising" | Same four roles |
| 4.10 | Name the people and tools that respond to brand safety and piracy incidents, internal and external | All participating companies |
| 4.11 | Review inclusion and exclusion lists quarterly and document how entries are added and removed | Direct buyers and intermediaries |
| 4.12 | Give users a way to report illegal content, then monitor, acknowledge, investigate and manage repeat infringers | Direct sellers |
TAG's own tools support those sections without replacing them. The guidelines say use of the Pirate Mobile App List or the Pirate Domain Exclusion List "is not required, nor does the use of the tool, in-and-of-itself, fulfill this requirement." TAG's brand safety page says the domain list, introduced with its 2024 anti-piracy expansion, is contributed through its threat exchange and that TAG "does not select, curate or modify submissions," so companies do their own checks on listed domains. Neither list is published openly, which is why a buyer asks its partners whether they use them.
How can a buyer spot a piracy site?
Look at what the site offers and how it pays for it. The FTC's alert gives the core sign: "If a site or app offers free downloads or streams of well-known movies, popular TV shows," then "the hidden cost of that 'free' site is probably malware." Display & Video 360's legacy Downloads & sharing category, "Content related to audio, video, or software downloads," shows how close legitimate and infringing download pages can sit in a classifier.
Signs of a streaming or download piracy site
- The site offers full films still in theaters, or entire seasons of current paid streaming shows, free.
- The site names no studio, network or distributor as a licensing partner.
- Pages carry links to file lockers, torrent magnets or download managers rather than a player the site owns.
- The site has no contact page, no named owner and no copyright notice process.
- Play buttons open pop ups, forced redirects or prompts to install a player or browser extension.
- The same catalog appears under several near identical domain names.
- The site's app is offered as a direct file download instead of through an app store.
Keep news and fan sites apart from piracy. A report on a takedown, a guide to legal streaming services or a fan wiki listing episode titles discusses piracy or licensed content without hosting either. The framework grades that coverage as medium or low risk, and a blunt list that blocks the word piracy removes it along with the floor.
What should happen when ads appear on a piracy site?
Six steps after a piracy placement
- Capture the evidence. Save the page URL, a dated screenshot, the app ID if any, and the impression and click logs for the placement.
- Exclude the placement. In Google Ads, placement exclusions (opens in a new tab) accept a "URL, app ID, video ID" at the account, campaign or ad group level; use the account level for a confirmed piracy site.
- Report it to the selling partners. Send the evidence to the DSP and to the SSP or exchange named in the logs, and ask how the inventory was labeled in the bid request.
- Check the domain's other names. Search for the same catalog on near identical domains and add those to the exclusion list.
- Ask about pirate lists. Ask partners whether they use pirate domain and app filtering, as TAG certification requires.
- Record the cause. Note whether the gap was an open auction, a mislabeled URL or an app, and change the plan so that path is closed.
Platform rules give the report a basis. Google's publisher policies on intellectual property abuse (opens in a new tab) state "We do not allow content that: infringes copyright," and that Google responds to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. A formal notice comes from the rights holder; the buyer's job is to stop funding the site and tell the partners who sold it.
What does a piracy incident look like for an anime retailer?
Fictional example
An anime and manga retailer in New Brunswick
A fictional anime and manga retailer with stores in Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton runs a fall campaign in English and French. A post campaign placement report shows its ads on a free anime streaming site that carries current season episodes with no distributor named, plus two mirror domains with the same catalog.
The planner excludes all three domains at the account level, sends screenshots and logs to the DSP and the exchange, and asks both whether they use TAG's pirate domain list. The open auction line is replaced by a reviewed list of anime news, fan review and licensed streaming guide sites. A French language fan wiki stays on the list, since it hosts episode guides and no video. The incident, its cause and the fix go into the campaign record.
How does PlacementGraph keep piracy sites off a list?
Frequently asked questions
Are sports streaming piracy sites part of the same category?
Yes. Unlicensed live streams of games and matches are copyright infringement in the framework's terms and sit at the floor. They show the same signs as film piracy: free access to paid broadcasts, no named rights holder, pop ups and redirects. News about sports rights deals is ordinary coverage.
Is a site that sells counterfeit goods covered by the piracy category?
Yes. The framework's floor line names counterfeiting with pirating and copyright infringement. TAG's guidelines also ask certified companies to identify the staff and tools that flag content "associated with piracy, or the dissemination of counterfeit goods." A buyer can treat fake designer goods stores like piracy sites.
Can a buyer rely on a verification report to catch piracy placements?
Not alone. Display & Video 360 notes that impressions can be served near unsafe content despite pre bid blocking, when URLs are inaccurate or content changes between bid and serve. Use reports to find incidents, and a reviewed site list to prevent them.
Do private marketplace deals remove piracy risk?
They reduce it when the deal is limited to reviewed sites, because the buyer knows which domains are in it. A deal built on a seller's broad package still needs the same review. Ask the seller for the domain list and check it against the signs above.
Sources
- Brand Safety Floor and Suitability Framework (opens in a new tab)Brand Safety Institute
- WFA discontinues GARM (opens in a new tab)World Federation of Advertisers, August 9, 2024
- Malware from illegal video streaming apps: What to know (opens in a new tab)US Federal Trade Commission, May 2, 2019
- Taxonomies implementation guide (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- Sensitive categories in Display & Video 360 brand safety targeting (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
- Brand safety (opens in a new tab)Trustworthy Accountability Group
- Brand Safety Certified Guidelines, version 5.0 (opens in a new tab)Trustworthy Accountability Group, July 2026
- ads.txt version 1.1 specification (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab
- Exclude specific webpages and videos (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Intellectual property abuse (opens in a new tab)Google Publisher Policies Help
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.