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Aussie Internet Pirates Are The Best Customers (torrentfreak.com)

A report commissioned by the Australian government has found a drop in piracy rates for 2016. The fall is being attributed to improved availability of legal streaming alternatives, but as TorrentFreak points out, the report also reveals that the much reviled Aussie pirate is often the industry's best customer. From the report: Streaming, on the other hand, increased from 54% to 57% year on year, with TV shows and movies making the biggest gains. "The proportion of internet users who streamed TV programs increased from 34% to 38% (making TV the most commonly accessed content type via online streaming) and the proportion of internet users who streamed movies increased from 25% to 29%," the report reads. This year the most-consumed content were TV shows (41%, up from 38% in 2015), music (39%, down from 42% in 2015) and movies (33%) and video games (15%). When all four content types were considered, the survey found that consumers streaming content on a weekly basis increased significantly, with 71% doing so for music and videos games, 55% for TV programs and 51% for movies. [...] However, in yet another blow to those who believe that genuine consumers and pirates are completely different and separate animals, the survey also reveals that millions of pirates are also consumers of legitimate content. In 2016, just 6% of Internet users exclusively obtained content from pirate sources. And there was an improvement in other areas too. When the survey presents figures from internet users who consumed content in the period (instead of just 'all Internet users 12+'), 37% consumed at least one unlawful file, down from 43% in the same period in 2015. Using the same parameters, 9% consumed all of their files unlawfully, down from 12% in 2015. But while there have been improvements in a number of areas, the volume of content being consumed illegally is not coming down across the board. According to the report, an estimated 279m music tracks, 56m TV shows, 34m movies, and 5m video games were consumed in the three month period.

48 comments

  1. And yet TPP extends copyright to life + 70 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    We're all going to be pirates--excuse me, copyright infringers--one day.

    1. Re:And yet TPP extends copyright to life + 70 by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

      >> We're all going to be pirates one day.

      And now we get to pay it forward to our kids. e.g., "Gone from Netflix?" "Don't worry, son, we'll just download it. Let me show you how." It makes me smile.

    2. Re:And yet TPP extends copyright to life + 70 by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      You ignore my rights, I ignore your laws. It's only fair.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:And yet TPP extends copyright to life + 70 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We're all going to be pirates--excuse me, copyright infringers--one day.

      But I don't want to be a pirate!

    4. Re:And yet TPP extends copyright to life + 70 by Moheeheeko · · Score: 1

      That's gold, Jerry. GOLD!!!

    5. Re:And yet TPP extends copyright to life + 70 by bane2571 · · Score: 1

      This, so much this.

      I have a desire and a limit. The desire is to be constantly entertained. The limit is how far my finances stretch. At the moment my finances stretch to a Netflix account, a Spotify account and the occasional Steam game. Piracy supplements variety in that scenario so:

      I don't pirate music, spotify has more than enough variety and official youtube videos cover any gaps.
      I don't pirate games - steam, despite it's pricing issues, more than provides the games I need and other services cover the gaps.
      I do pirate TV. I started watching rick and Morty on Netflix, season 1 and 2. When season 3 comes out I will likely download it because it won't be available on Netflix. I also started watching the flash on Netflix but when the proxy crackdown came down I lost access to it. I have no idea how I can watch it legally so if I ever care enough to watch it again, piracy is my ONLY choice. That or DVDs but I don't have a DVD player any more.

      The above is more about my thought process which, as an Australian consumer, is the whole point. I know there is likely a perfectly legal way for me to watch Flash and Rick and Morty in Australia but I don't care enough to find out what that is and to pay extra for it. So if I care enough, I'll pirate (rick and morty) otherwise, I'll forget about the show (flash) and go find something that is available (just started Black mirror, holy crap that show is interesting).

  2. You know, Hitler was Austrian by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    So let's not brag about criminals here.

  3. G'day, don't copy that floppy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    put the shrimp on the barbie!

    1. Re:G'day, don't copy that floppy by maglor_83 · · Score: 2

      It's called a prawn.

  4. Consumed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

  5. Really? Wow, never woulda thunk it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems like when you provide the content people want to see instead of geo locking it, you make money instead of losing money to pirating! Huh, what a weird concept!

    1. Re: Really? Wow, never woulda thunk it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Exactly. I was paying to stream a particular TV show by using a VPN to bypass Geo restrictions.

      The owner then signed and exclusive deal with another streaming service that has harsher Geo checks that blocks most cons.

      I have now downloaded the remaining episodes.

    2. Re: Really? Wow, never woulda thunk it! by smooth+wombat · · Score: 0

      I have now downloaded the remaining episodes.

      But you never paid for any of the shows in the first place and you never will so you're still a thief.

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    3. Re: Really? Wow, never woulda thunk it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Thief" "steal"

      These words don't apply to this situation since nothing was stoken or lost due to theft.

    4. Re: Really? Wow, never woulda thunk it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I was paying to stream a particular TV show by using a VPN to bypass Geo restrictions.

      But you never paid for any of the shows in the first place and you never will so you're still a thief.

      Sounds to me like he was paying, but bypassing geo-restrictions. And you call that thieving? Really? Please explain.

    5. Re:Really? Wow, never woulda thunk it! by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      Talk about a No Shit, Sherlock moment for the execs. Everybody else has already known this for 20 years.

      Gee, when content isn't legally available people's choices are:

      * Pirate it,
      * Don't watch it.

      /sarcasm Who knew that providing content would allow people to pay for it ! What a concept !!

    6. Re:Really? Wow, never woulda thunk it! by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      There was a third option, pay inflated prices for it, those prices produced by cartel actions to pre-buy all available content and only distribute via their channels at inflated prices brought to you by the dick himself Rupert bloody Murdoch, we finally managed to dump him on the Americans and the ass hat is still screwing us over. Hey Yanks, when are you finally going to lock that bastard up, I hope it's soon ;D.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  6. Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by gsslay · · Score: 1

    "However, in yet another blow to those who believe that genuine consumers and pirates are completely different and separate animals"

    Who has ever said that?

    "In line with 2015, 43% of infringers said that better pricing would be the factor that would be most likely to reduce their consumption of illicit content."

    Well there's an amazing conclusion. Is anyone surprised that if stuff was cheaper, people are less likely to take it for nothing?

    1. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by Alwin+Henseler · · Score: 1

      Is anyone surprised that if stuff was cheaper, people are less likely to take it for nothing?

      I'm confused now. Let's say legitimate providers make content available for free. Then should we take that, or keep pirating the stuff anyway?

    2. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Is anyone surprised that if stuff was cheaper, people are less likely to take it for nothing?

      I thought it was supposed to be about honouring the principle of Free-as-in-freedom Culture being shared for the worldwide betterment of humanity on their journey to the stars?

      Or are you suggesting that most people who pirate are just cheapskates?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    3. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "However, in yet another blow to those who believe that genuine consumers and pirates are completely different and separate animals"

      Who has ever said that?

      Every RIAA shill ever?

      I think almost every Slashdot thread about copyright has at least someone who makes retarded statements that assumes that pirates and customers are different people.

    4. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by CaptainDork · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The basic problem is not price, but availability.

      Australia has its own entertainment infrastructure but citizens want American shit to watch.

      Geo-fencing enforces what amounts to a continental monopoly as in, "We don't allow no foreign entertainment here, so eat what we put on the table in support of the domestic economy."

      Australians are willing and able to pay for American content, and Australia doesn't have anything America (or Aussies) want.

      Queue the secondary access methods.

      The news here isn't that Aussie piracy has decreased.

      The news (found elsewhere) is that legal access to American content has increased.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    5. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't fret, they will reboot Crocodile Dundee, I'm sure of it.

    6. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well, I would probably pirate anyway.
      Official channels doesn't provide information about encoding quality or ensure that the content is free from malware.
      You'd think that it should be a given that they made sure those things are good but for some odd reason they don't.
      I'm also not willing to pay for commercials or content that is limited to specific hardware and that might act up if I try to play it on next generation hardware.

      Piracy provides better quality. Since I'm willing to pay more for better quality it is hard to compete with the price alone.

    7. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      If it's available ad free on one of the services I subscribe to I'll watch it there instead but I don't mind watching the ad supported free content from places like cwtv or cbs.

      It's not necessarily the cost of a single service like netflix, hulu, or amazon prime that's prohibitive it's the cost of subscribing to many different services to get the content you want and even then it may not be available.

    8. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... want American shit to watch ...

      With US corporations owning the Tv and radio stations, advertising is mostly for American shows: How many Aussie networks show British Tv? We get endless US re-runs, many poorly scheduled, but the only British re-runs are detective movies.

      Aussie television gets made only when it's a for-teens soap opera, a reality game (We still drool over that.), sports and news, or a government-subsidized drama. Subsidies last only 3 years, so Aussie television doesn't have the story development (or story recycling in the case of 'NCIS' and 'CSI') that other countries offer. The dramas are positioned to compete with whatever new series is coming out of the USA, making it a contest between US-style and AU-style story-telling: With the increasing Americanization of culture, viewers choose the US series.

      Aussie comedy has been dying for 20 years and there isn't even a sketch/skit show anymore; just the perpetual stand-up comedy showcase on the government-funded network. The recent spate of Aussie crime docu-dramas has become tired and even the Aussie celebrity docu-dramas are losing popularity so police dramas are popular again: But this time it's about anti-terrorism, not law and order.

    9. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      I would quite happily watch the ad supported version (have been watching broadcast tv for years), if it provided a decent service...
      Having to use specific devices to access the services, having a bunch of different services rather than a single standard usable from any compatible device (like broadcast tv), having drm etc is a big turn off.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    10. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by pr0fessor · · Score: 1

      Exactly the point, needing to subscribe to multiple services using multiple devices just to get a good selection of the content you want is a pain that no one wants to pay extra for.

    11. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by future+guy · · Score: 2

      Yep, availability is key! Global concurrent release strategies are damn important too. Basically Aussies will pay for stuff if they can access it in a timely way instead of having to wait months and months to get TV and films that everyone on the internet is already talking about. That's what leads to major piracy and that's the big issue that needs to be resolved.

    12. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      I agree with you.

      I would add that the entertainment industry, including by way of example, but not by way of limitation, video, audio, and text, charges way too damned much for their shit.

      CEOs and shareholders are greedy and profit margins are insane.

      That's true for sports ranging from college to pro, as well.

      Those industries are incapable of controlling their IP, so they are working with governments to tamp down piracy.

      That will never work, no matter what's done.

      When IP is digitized, it becomes available to the public domain by way of the fact that people with computers are way smarter than other people with computers.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    13. Re:Strawmen and the obvious conclusion by future+guy · · Score: 1

      Agree. On top of that, in Australia we often are charged more for digital content than other countries. It's insane to be overcharged when in the Aus iTunes store when you can grab a US account and get the same content for cheaper. Here is a great video from ABC show The Checkout discussing this very price gouging issue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  7. I am a media consumer - and a "pirate" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have hundreds of DVDs, CDs, I have ripped my collections to drive arrays and generally rely on the digital versions of said collections (Thanks Plex, Thex.)

    Occasionally something comes out (like a movie) and I'm not sure I want to buy the damn thing so I download it first. Same thing with some older movies, not sure if I'm going to like it and the only option I got is to pirate (or hope that it gets a Netflix release)

    Then there's rare stuff, niche stuff, or stuff not up for general release. Amazon which carries a lot of stuff doesn't have everything (oh I want a non-4:3 cropped version of an obscure 80s horror movie? There is no disc option for this region. Oh I want some old anime "music box" collection? No sorry there was a small Japan-only re-release 6 years ago) All these things I've gotten online and online-only. I'd pay for 'em if I could but they will never be formally released because the demand is so microscopic it's not "worth it" ~~~ so, no choice, I'm gonna pirate it

    1. Re:I am a media consumer - and a "pirate" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People who do nothing but pirate and companies who do nothing but DRM are both bad for the industry. I'll never understand why they go to such trouble to scramble or shuffle video on DVDs and Blu-Ray. I don't need ultra violet. I'll get my copy descrambled straight from the cow thank you.

    2. Re:I am a media consumer - and a "pirate" by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Why go so niche? Why not just say you want to buy a copy of Lady and the Tramp for your kids? Oh wait you can't.

      You can be damn certain you'll find a torrent of it somewhere though.

    3. Re:I am a media consumer - and a "pirate" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I went to the movies with some of my kids friends last weekend. The other family was at $80+ in just the movie tickets to get in. After the show, I was talking to the dad and he said that he had already added the movie titler to his bittorrent slurper that would auto download the movie once it showed up on torrent sites as a BluRay rip. He said that he already paid for the damn movie and wasn't looking to shell out another $20+ for it and then not be able to rip it and have the kids scratch the disc or lose it or whatever. I get that the content creators get to set prices, but when people feel gouged they find ways around those prices, and when they feel the transaction is reasonable, they typically pay it. Pretty clear evidence for the same thing at play here too.

    4. Re:I am a media consumer - and a "pirate" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This so much.

      Geolocked content pisses me off so much, so much so I typo'd that whole sentence segment due to sheer rage.
      Pisses me off especially when English content that gets released in, say, America, and it doesn't get launched in ENGLAND at the same time. WHY?!
      All these companies trying to nickle and dime distributors are awful. They make it so hard to get their content, some actively blocking it outside their host country. Then it gets pirated and they whine about it.
      It is so pointless and almost "languagist", if you could call it that.
      Even sadder when people make derived, translated or fan content on a series, and the creator actively shits all over it with DMCAs. Totally free work at that, not those few scummy paid fan content types.
      It's free advertising for them!

      I can certainly understand some in-depth fan content issues, such as a full game based on some IP (see Pokemon Uranium), it's a bit grey with me. A small game, sure, fine, but a huge piece with that depth is a bit iffy even with me and my fairly open views on IP freedoms. It's crappy that it is down, but still.

      Remakes of old games that have zero intention of ever being remade, however, taking those down is just dickish and retarded since it is, again, free advertising for a series. The DOWNLOAD stats in particular are hugely useful for gauging whether to make a new game in a series, or put more resources behind it, etc.
      Why would you not encourage this? They are doing a huge amount of work for you, and all you need to do is look at a download page, Twitter, Youtube, etc. Research done. Probably less than 5% of an average projects research.

      This is why I am happy to see Timesplitters being "remade" as a fan game, and Crytek have given it their full backing. Although admittedly they recently had to switch engine to CryEngine from UE, since they are using it as a flagship product for their SDK. A Good Thing... ish. Damian sure sounds like he is having fun remaking Streets on streams!

  8. TPP is very bad for workers rights and the ISDS by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    TPP is very bad for workers rights and the ISDS part will suck for all of us.

  9. Yeah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thats bull mate

  10. Yesterday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yesterday I went to the library and consumed 13 items of non-fiction media, 2 graphic novels and a collection of short-SF works.

    Then they kicked me out and the indigestion was terrible.

    1. Re: Yesterday by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's no way that much paper only gave you indigestion. I call bullshit.

  11. Wow by war4peace · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What a conclusion! Mind boggling, ain't it.

    I used to pirate pretty much everything back in the day, when my income would fit in any empty place, no matter how small. As my income started to increase, i gave up pirating. First went games - I now own over 200 games on Steam (about 5 being free-to-play), a handful on GOG and various others spread across uPlay and the like. Then software: the OS, the Office Suite and other software releases I am using often. The rarely used things are Open Source mostly.

    Still downloading movies but after watching them, if they're worthy of watching again, I buy the DVD. Music? Online Radio satisfies me fully.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    1. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same here. I rarely pirate anything with streaming services around. I even buy more.

    2. Re:Wow by balaband · · Score: 1

      Music? Online Radio satisfies me fully.

      ...which increase the number of listeners on the radio, which increases the price of any ads that they put in the program and money back to artists through IP.

      And not to mention any concert tickets you might buy.

    3. Re:Wow by war4peace · · Score: 1

      Which is fine, however ads are in languages I don't understand (or barely understand). German, French and North European languages.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  12. Slightly OT by Dashiva+Dan · · Score: 2

    I'm just going to rant about journalists stating how we "consume content". While you could argue that "This particular use of the term doesn't need to remove the thing being consumed", The term "consume" does indicate that what is consumed is no longer available, and, well, it is still available. It's not consumed, it's right there!. Perhaps try saying just about any other more accurate term such as "go through content" or "experience content"... /rant

    --
    "lt;dr" is the correct response to most of my posts.
  13. "consumption" of video??? by lkcl · · Score: 2

    ". According to the report, an estimated 279m music tracks, 56m TV shows, 34m movies, and 5m video games were consumed in the three month period."

    how were they "consumed"? did they print them out on rice paper, frame by frame and then and only then manage to EAT them?? this is how the cartels manage to make it look like people are criminals - by using words like "pirate" and "consumption". videos are not "physical objects". copies can't be "stolen". or CONSUMED. the watching of a video does NOT subtract any physical substance from the universe (except perhaps indirectly reducing brain matter due to complete boredom and lack of stimulus). we're being duped here. time to take back control.

  14. Re: TPP is very bad for workers rights and the ISD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Which is why the Donald killing it dead is excellent news !