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Despite Netflix and Amazon Prime, Most of the World Watches Pirated Content (techinasia.com)
An anonymous reader shares a TechInAsia report: More than half of the people surveyed across the world still watch pirated movies and TV shows, a new survey shows. The study, conducted by digital security firm Irdeto, asked more than 25,000 adults across 30 countries about video watching trends. Here's what it found: 52 percent of those surveyed said they watch pirated videos. 48 said they would stop, or watch less illegal content after they were told about the damaging effects of piracy on the media industry. While many recognize that producing or sharing pirated video is illegal (70 percent), far fewer people are aware that streaming or downloading is also against the law (59 percent).
Dude. Amazon prime's streaming is garbage. It's all bait n switch. You're paying 100 bucks a year and you only get a handful of episodes per show/season. After that they expect you to pay per episode. No thanks.
It used to be that art was more or less done because either the artist was driven or a patron was willing to fund it.
Right now, art in various forms draws a lot of money... but it isn't piracy that will kill Hollywood, it's machinima. Once an affordable computer can replicate the real world (plus special effects)realistically, the current system will fail completely.
Then our problem will be wading through all the polished turds produced by people who only think they're talented while we're trying to find an actual precious stone.
Pirated material can be played with your player of choice, on your device of choice.
It can be played at 1.5x speed. The audio can be amplified, or filtered, and the channels can be mixed differently.
The video can be transcoded to meet the needs of a mobile device.
The content can be consumed off-grid.
There is just so much convenience when these motherfuckers get out the goddamn way!!!1111
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones
Prepare to be boarded, lilly-livered DRM-lubbers!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Not to speak for everyone, but some content just is not available. Easiest example that comes to mind: Little Witch Academia is airing in Japan. Netflix has streaming rights, so it should be available for me to watch on Netflix, right? Wrong, because Netflix doesn't show things as they air, but they will be putting the whole thing up once it's over in a few months. So if I want to watch this show as it airs (because watching shows as they air and discussing it with other nerds online is way more fun than binging on an archive), I have no legal option to do so.
And despite the summary, it isn't necessarily illegal to pirate in certain countries. Heck, the former USTR maintains a special list of countries you should visit if you wanted to do so.
we discovered that Netflix offering was a subset of the USA offering in Canada. I actually tried to subscribe to the HBO web service in Canada and discovered that I could not get "Game of Thrones" without paying an extortion fee to Bell Canada who has exclusive rights to distribute HBO content which adds an extra $60/month by forcing people to go cable or satellite services.So..I wait for DVD's from the library.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
This is what happens when you sell a product with $0 distribution cost for > $0 while the people making it are making millions.
Just imagine for a second that people were 3D printing their own furniture for nothing but the cost of the plastic, and IKEA started bitching about people not buying their stuff.
It would be absolutely ridiculous, and yet, somehow the media companies have normalized this situation.
All the services like Netflix and Amazon prime have their exclusive content. They are like different channels on cable TV.
Netflix long ago stopped being a content store and became a content creator.
it doesn't make any sense to say despite Neflix because Netflix sells their own content, not make others content easily available.
People wouldn't pirate as much if they weren't getting assraped to watch TV shows, especially when it's something that was broadcast over-the-air in the first place. I'll 'pirate' an episode my DVR somehow missed all I want, and fuck the police, the networks, and all you wankers who whine and cry about it.
Netflix might have a lot of content is a few countries, but has little content in most countries. The choice ends up being either not to watch or to pirate. There's no real damage to the industry in such cases.
The content companies only have themselves to blame, mostly at least. When there is no way to catch up on missed episodes the only choice is pirated or stop watching altogether. Which would they prefer? Beyond that, cable isn't cheap. We pay $100 a month for something that we used to get for free over the air. And most of the world is dirt poor, so if they can't get content for cheap... I'm not exactly poor but I'd never ordinarily pay $1.99 just to watch one episode of one show.
:T:R:A:N:S:
This study is so obviously flawed in methodology it's laughable. Clearly this is just a bunch of propaganda. First, if you're surveying people around the world you also need to determine what licensed streaming services the person has access to as not all (or even any) services are available in all countries. Second, you need to consider the differences in the catalogs of licensed services from country to country. Because of antiquated business practices and agreements the catalog of Netflix (for example) varies greatly from place to place. In most places it's much worse than the US, which isn't even that great. Third, the study makes the assumption that simply viewing pirated content is in fact illegal (and they report about this with a leading statement, Did not know that simply watching....). While this may be true in some regions globally there is certainly some disagreement about whether only distribution is unlawful or whether consumption is also unlawful. This really smells like media industry propaganda to me.
Get the Amazon cash rewards Visa. Use it for everything but pay off the balance monthly to avoid fees. That 1% to 3% cash back more than pays off the $100 prime membership. All in all I get about $600 per year using cash back cards and no service fees.
Easy, I am in Québec and want to watch Walking Dead in French? Nope, AMC seems to have refused to sale the rights to French Canadian TV, so I wait for it to be showned in France/Belgium/whatever and torrent it.
Best comedy serie ever? Married With Children of course, cannot find it in French in Canada, even in DVDs, so torrent it goes.
Repeat for a lot of things dubbed in French and unavailable by any legal meaning in Canada.
"48 (percent) said they would stop, or watch less illegal content after they were told about the damaging effects of piracy on the media industry."
As movies continue to smash box office earnings records, and leading movie stars continue to justify obscene paychecks, I'd love to know how the MPAA is going to convey those "damaging" effects.
Sure as shit doesn't seem like they're hurting, especially in the face of what appears to be rampant piracy.
The content just isn't there! Same for Netflix. It only has half of what anyone wants to see.
So, people go where the content is. That's all.
I have sincerely tried to be legal. I bought HDHomeruns and cable cards so I could consume media in my linux environment legally on a DVR that has capability that is important to me and storage that lets me keep it as long as I want. But the cable co's are now encrypting to make cable on all but a few channels making it impossible for me to view on the platform of my choice. They are using encryption as a way to force you into a rental scenario. As for online streaming, I don't have fast enough internet to stream. I wouldn't even if I could. I will download on linux and view using the player of my choice or I'll work around the artificial crippling.
Digital is, by definition, imperfect. Analog is the way to go.
"damaging effects of piracy on the media industry"
1. I believe children are damaged by the media industry.
2. Therefore the media industry needs to go away.
3. Piracy has a damaging effect on the media industry.
4. I pirate media content because it is my moral obligation to damage the media industry - for the children.
Well, that should totally hold up in court.
but they didn't provide ANY indication of the exact questions asked, how they chose potential respondents, how they rejected potential respondents, how many results they threw away and under what criteria - you know, any of the important stuff that would allow the reader to actually evaluate whether or not the conclusions drawn have even a chance of reflecting the real state of affairs. The 'article' is a blatant, crude, substanceless, hit-and-run propaganda piece, and any thinking person should either take its conclusions with a whole cupful of salt, or dismiss them out of hand.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
If you give people a reasonable alternative to piracy I'd like to believe they would take it. Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon between them scratch my TV needs, although, with further fragmentation of the streaming market, I'm seriously considering reviewing the situation. I can't pay for EVERY channel that fragments off and wants its own subscriber base.
When it comes to sport- I have to stream from grey-area sources. I'm sorry, I'm not paying for cable just to have sports- nor am I paying $60 a year just to watch Premier League games. Come out with a reasonable price alternative and I'll pay. Charge me $15 to watch online- and I will pay for your service- ask ridiculous amounts and I won't.
I'd really like Netflix to show sports but they're always claiming consumers don't want to be able to watch sports and turn away when consumers scream back "YES WE DO". I don't even care if there is a several hour delay of a live event. I can resist checking for updates on my phone that long.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I see that mainstream media has gone completely bankrupt in the last decade as "piracy" has increased.
I miss watching films and TV and now that piracy has taken over there just is no new TV, music or movies anymore. Same with books, since ebook piracy became a thing NO ONE has written, published or bought a book in years.
All media is now completely dead.
Thanks pirates!
Tried Netflix and Prime. You expect to get anything and everything. But instead you get one decent show, a load of old movies you've already seen.
Suddenly the most important thing is to remember to terminate subscription.
Let me put it this way. I can only watch so much content. There's more content around than I'll ever watch. If I'll be allowed to choose out of everything then I'll come back.
I think I might speak for one or two more.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
Aside from not having "good" content on Netflix/Amazon/iTunes etc (aka be an appealing product) --- watching Pirated content fills the "Now" and "Cheap"
I know multiple people who watch pirated content -- and Own a copy too -- only because the mechanism to watch said content is easier via the pirate tools. One person wants to watch on his phone when traveling (or some mobile device for the kids in the backseat) - but the copy he purchased on iTunes/Amazon can't be loaded onto said device. But the device will play other formats that can be downloaded off the web.
And then there are those who are too cheap to pay $10 a month for the streaming services (or sum of iTunes purchases / 12 months). Free is always a good price - plus you can watch movies that aren't available on the streaming services.
Seriously. There's more content than ever. We could use a culling mechanism, IMO, but piracy doesn't seem to be it.
Now let's talk about the damaging effects of making sharing a crime.
I live in Finland and have tested all streaming services available here. Checked the scifi movies section on all of them and results were poor: HBO Nordic 5 movies, Viasat 13 movies and CMore 28. Netflix had similar selection. And most of the movies were old, some so old that they were shown on TV. Selection on TV series was slightly better, but still I had watched all interesting shows during the first free month all these services offered. And I only watched 1-2 hours every now and then.
- Raynet --> .
Most people around the world are poor, and they probably can't afford legitimate access to US video programming. Hollywood should be happy that foreigners are pirating their movies. It helps keep down competition from places like Bollywood. America benefits from exporting its culture abroad.
...but I'm going to say it again: Convenience, convenience, convenience. The market always corrects when you try to impose artificial supply constraints, especially when demand is high.
You'd think people would have learned from watching the music industry go through it's "head in the sand" phase.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
If last year I watched a hundred pirated videos, and this year I watched two, this survey would say I still watch pirated video.
And the list of people who think streaming pirate content isn't illegal would seem to include the UK trading standards - https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/03/06/1958209/streaming-pirate-content-isnt-illegal-uk-trading-standards-says
This survey is a streaming pile.
Looks like maybe providers need to make the content available to those countries who are watching that "pirated" content.
It really seems to me that this is more about content not being available, so people find ways to get it. While Netflix/Amazon may be available in some of those countries, do they get the full list of shows/movies, or just a pittance? I know it is likely due to copyright law restrictions, but that should serve as a wake up call that those restrictions are not helping the copyright holders.
They sure threw the word pirate around a lot in the article. It would be interesting to see a definition of what they call "pirated".
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Despite Netflix and Amazon? They operate more and more the same way the rest of the industry operates, Netflix locks down content by region giving many regions only a tiny library and I am sure Amazon would do the same if they actually had a decent service to lock down. Those 2 have the abilities to lead the way and Netflix for a while even seemed to be trying but now they are just part of the problem.
I'm guessing thats really because most of the people of the world still don't live in first-world countries with significant disposable income and high-bandwidth internet.
If folks have to resort to pulling content from frowned upon channels, Big Media has only themselves to blame.
While Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and the like are cheap enough, the quality and lack of shows available to stream across them reflects their price. I cannot tell you how many times I've searched for a show I was interested in watching on Netflix, only to find out that it isn't available in the streaming catalog. I can't tell you how many times I've found a series I would like to watch, only to find out it's Season 3 and the first two seasons aren't there anymore :|
When the MPAA / RIAA pull their heads out of their ass and realize the following:
1) Make the content available across all platforms, not this exclusive bullshit we have now
2) Make it reasonably priced, WITHOUT ADS ( don't f*ck this up, you'll sink the whole damn ship )
3) Get rid of the GD geo-blocks. We don't need YOU telling us what YOU think WE should watch.
You'll likely find the number of folks who resort to the Yarr-Matey versions will drop significantly and instead of bitching about the " Pirate Problem ", you can instead focus on your real issue.
That being the creation of quality content that folks actually want to watch.
The movie industry leaders made a collective decision to retain control over the distribution of their digital products. They saw what happened to the music industry as a loss of control. Your "excellent product" is precisely what they despise.
In the short term, there is absolutely no plan in place to rectify this. No video-content producer wants to be beholden to free-market impacts on price. They absolutely don't want to accept the terms of someone else's video streaming service. They abhor the thought of a netflix monopoly on streaming, and how little negotiation leverage it means they will have. They will not abide ANY of this.
So instead they will expend tremendous amounts of money in the completely vain attempt at enforcing technically-misguided laws that attempt to maintain control of digital distribution and consumption. They will create a lot of noise and pain, but will accomplish nothing else.
I won't buy DRM shows at any price. I want to manage my shows in the player of my choice and I don't want to worry about losing access. I've been burned on this before when I bought a show to watch at the airport and lost access to it when I left the country. At 1.99 a pop I'd pay for a few worthwhile things, and 99 cents I'd be willing to buy a lot. But with DRM? Not a penny.
I'm struggling with how this is "despite" Netflix. These days I'm saying it's more because of Netflix. When Netflix started it was promising an alternative to the video rental model. Easy, online, full of popular content, right at your door. When they moved to streaming it was revolutionary, all the latest and greatest and a huge back catalogue giving the middle finger cable providers.
Now?
Now I struggle to see how Netflix is any different than owning cable. They mostly fill up their catalogue with their own self made content, content from others is sparse, content is not first to arrive on Netflix unless it's exclusive, and outside the USA let me just say the content is utter garbage. How garbage? Look for Australian TV shows in the USA, and then try and find the same shows on the Australian Netflix. Yes even the local content is harder to get locally on Netflix compared to the USA.
So when people say despite Netflix people all over the world are pirating, I would say they would first need to put a bit of effort in before qualifying for the word "despite".
Make your own streaming service for free.
At least In the EU its legal to stream pirated content.
http://www.digital-digest.com/...
48 out of the 25000 surveyed in TFA.
Here is why people choose pirated content:
"Every movie you've ever searched for" is unavailable to stream. This title is available on Netflix DVD.
-and-
You can stream this, but we have non-skippable commercials poorly cut in and if you pause or seek it the episode will restart. Also, we use dumb buffering, so that every commercial causes the buffer to flush and you'll end up watching most of the video at 180p, not 1080p, quality.
I have amazon prime for shipping. I have relatives that live all over the US and it's very handy, as well as one day shipping when i need something (it's available in my area). the problem with Netflix remains content owners. Studios, lawyers and ISP's are trying to rob the last dollar from the American consumer (with the blessing Lord Trump) all the while the really good and NEW content is available for streaming in Foreign countries. There's zero reason foreign subscribers should have better content for the same service other than greed. And it's only going to get worse, much worse if the current Administration has they're way.
I believe that most people have found that pirated content is high quality and no ads, plus all those RSS feeds have been set up to automatically download shows a long time ago, well before Amazon and Netflix came to the party.
So why switch from something high quality and ad free?
Oh wait it's missing one word
Netflix + Amazon (Western content) vs Pirated Content in the World
Netflix + Amazon (Western content) Pirated Content in the World
It doesn't take much to point out Netflix & Amazon are still pretty limited in content across the world. Go travel for a vacation to some weird Asia place. If you can find internet, go on Netflix or Amazon. You will be very disappointed.
Most of the world doesn't get any benefits from Amazon Prime, and a very partial library from Netflix. With such lame offering, why would most of the world switch to something that costs money and doesn't give anything much in return?
This is without even mentioning that $10/mo in the US is not the same level of pay as in some other countries. You essentially pay more (relatively speaking) and get less
Shachar
I live in a "non DMCA" country, meaning, that I have to jump hoops to even purchase anything legally, let alone streaming. Even if we ignore income/price ratio differences between US and, say, Belarus or some other not-so-well-off country, people have to HUNT for an opportunity to buy digital content legally. Amazon, albeit most popular, is geo-blocking. Apple thingy does not allow downloads + also geoblocks. Google music is much more open, but limited in content. BandCamp is mostly empty/indie. When will publishers realize, that they are shooting themselves in the leg with such an approach? With geo-blocking they don't prevent piracy, they proactively foster it, because even that single-digit percentile of well-off population is just unable to give their money away. I would recommend them to open up and enjoy the money stream.
So, they pirate for the same reason I used to - they can't afford to get content legally. (since then I've bought much of what I pirated. If it was any good.)
"despite Netflix"?
We get less than 40% of the catalogue in my country (Denmark).
And this goes for other services as well.
I don't want to wait up to 3 years before "My Show, Season X" finally airs in my location.
Netflix Denmark STILL doesn't have the last season of several shows they offer.
So I can either wait up to 3 years before I can watch shows or pirate it.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -
Many of these cable companies and movie studies cite "lost revenue" as a result of piracy. These numbers are also flawed because, let's face it, the only reason why many pirates even watch/stream pirated content is because it's free. I would be willing to bet that more than half wouldn't even bother going to the movies and paying for it. Sort of like free firewood in the state parks. The minute they make you pay for it, suddenly the night gets quiet =)
And they still complain? Who is not being paid? I think there are institutions for those cases so piracy is just a matter of settling payments for all because those are payments always positive for all.