Video piracy is a phenomenon that continues to grow on a global scale. A recent study by MUSO and Kearney reveals that the number of visits to websites offering pirated content rose by 12% in 2023, reaching a total of 141 billion. This trend is worrying for the film and TV industries, as well as for legal streaming platforms, which are seeing their revenues fall.
Despite (or due to) the multiplication of legal streaming offers, video piracy has ever been so popular. The number of connections to illegal sites is increasing every year. Measures taken by Arcom (formerly Hadopi) in France and equivalent bodies in other countries appear to be totally ineffective. Why is this?
How can the increase in video piracy be explained?
Paradoxically, the increase in the number of streaming platforms and the quantity of new content is contributing to this rise. In France, for example, 70% of homes have a UHD 4K television, and half of all households have a subscription to at least one streaming service. But most families need to sign up for several services if they want to watch the latest and most popular series, sport, kids programs and recent movies. This costs a lot of money, especially since the price of streaming subscriptions regularly increases and due to widespread inflation, which isn’t conducive to spending money on leisure activities and entertainment.
Users are also critical of the attitude of SVOD services, which have recently introduced advertisements before or during programs on certain subscription plans, and are cracking down on account sharing.
Pirates = young, ultra-connected users?
Piracy seems to be becoming more widespread and normalized among new users. In India, for example, illegal movie downloads increased by 80% in 2022. These new users are often younger and more comfortable with digital technologies. They are also less concerned with the notion of copyright and less sensitive to moral arguments against piracy.
Furthermore, these generations, having grown up at the same time as the move towards digital content, don’t seem to be as interested in physical Blu-ray and DVD media as previous generations. They don’t often own a Blu-ray player or a 4K TV, preferring to use a smartphone or computer. Yet there is no shortage of reasons to choose Blu-ray over streaming.
How can video piracy be reduced?
Andy Chatterley, co-founder and CEO of research firm MUSO, which specializes in the analysis of global piracy and unlicensed multimedia consumption, claims that people using illegal services are often those who already spend the most on content, provided they have easy access to it. This last factor is extremely important.
In a nutshell, the analyst suggests that cinema and TV industries could benefit from offering bundled subscriptions to several platforms, or discounted packages for younger users. Making it easier for members of the same family to share accounts could also help limit piracy.
The fight against piracy is a complex challenge with no end in sight. With repression proving fairly ineffective, the solution could come from the main victims. If the film, TV and SVOD industries could agree on a unified offer of sufficiently varied and accessible content, users could be persuaded to steer away from piracy.
Source: FastCompany
