New Delhi, Jan. 5 -- Even as video streaming platforms invest in local content to expand in India's OTT (over-the-top) market, a quiet and damaging threat is steadily eroding their business-digital piracy.

At a time when ad revenues are soft and subscription growth has slowed, piracy has grown into a parallel ecosystem, eating into legitimate earnings.

Industry experts estimate that OTT content piracy results in losses of Rs.8,000- Rs.11,000 crore annually, indicating that 10-25% of the potential revenue generated by original content creators and funders never reaches the platforms.

In the past, OTT originals such as Scam 1992- The Harshad Mehta Story, The Legend of Hanuman and Ek Badnaam Aashram, among others, have fallen prey to pira...