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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.
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.
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
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.
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)