Slashdot Mirror


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).

49 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. lol amazon prime by whoozwah · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:lol amazon prime by hawguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

      Well, you're not paying $100/year for prime streaming. At least few people are.

      I'm paying $100/year for the shipping benefits (I make it all back during Christmastime when I send gifts to my extended family), the prime streaming is just a perk... and sometimes useful since there are some shows that Prime has that Netflix doesn't. So prime streaming is worth something to be, but not $100/year. Maybe $10/year. Though if I didn't have Netflix, Prime Video would be much more valuable to me.

    2. Re:lol amazon prime by gnick · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This goes hand-in-hand with TFA's conclusion. Start watching a series on Prime, continue watching it pirated. Then, next time, eliminate Prime from the loop since it added so little. Amazon Prime and Netflix will never have as wide a catalog as TPB.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    3. Re:lol amazon prime by dmomo · · Score: 5, Informative

      I found that often, even though we are paying Prime fees for free shipping, the shipping fees are still often reflected in the cost of the item. I don't know why I keep Prime. They seem to be double dipping at times. When you search for the same item and find it for a lower price, it's likely a non-prime item, and often the price difference is pretty much in the ball park of the 2-day shipping cost.

    4. Re:lol amazon prime by Moof123 · · Score: 2

      This. Amazon is convenient, but their prices have bloated since prime such that most of the time it is worth my while to find a promotion elsewhere and get free shipping. Prime basically keeps me from becoming irate at Xmas time when my wife would otherwise just be ordering stuff without heeding how much shipping is going to be at the last minute for the cheap garbage her relatives want for Xmas. Between Prime BS and their search algorithm that mostly ignores my search terms I am really close to being done with Amazon.

    5. Re:lol amazon prime by spire3661 · · Score: 2
      --
      Good-bye
    6. Re:lol amazon prime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So if the problem is that prime-eligible items have their prices jacked up by the cost of shipping, thus negating the value of the service, the solution is to ignore the problem? Do you work for Amazon?

    7. Re:lol amazon prime by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Then, next time, eliminate Prime from the loop since it added so little.

      It actually subtracts a bit, rather than adds anything. Thing is, go to TPB, type in the name, get a super fast download (choose the quality), and watch it on any device, with your own media player, in any way you want with precisely ZERO hassles from DRM.

      That's the problem with pirated stuff: it's not just that's free, it's also better.

      Contrast that with music. If I get it from amazon, after paying, I get a zip file with nicely categorized, DRM free, play anywhere anyhow files in it. That is an excellent product.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    8. Re:lol amazon prime by JoeMerchant · · Score: 2

      What people do, vs what people say they do, vs what people say that people do are three almost disconnected things.

      Do you break the law? Would you stop if X? How many paying customers do you have?

      All of these are extremely loaded questions, without some form of independent validation of the results - voluntary answers are highly unreliable.

    9. Re:lol amazon prime by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

      It's definitely the case for small items. I've been using Prime for 10-12 years and the prices for items have slowly crept up. I can frequently find a third party sell that isn't doing prime that has an item that is +Shipping that rivals the prime price. But it's much harder to compare the third party seller because sometimes I get the item in 2 days and other times it's more like 10 days. Where as prime shipping has been more consistent, probably because it all comes from the same set of warehouses.

      Really the only good deal for shipping is Amazon Pantry. But they make it intentionally difficult to order just a single item.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    10. Re:lol amazon prime by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      It's a scam. Once you have it you feel like you should be your money's worth. You buy more from Amazon, and they use it to drive you to the things they want you to buy. Unless you buy a lot of stuff and can't be bothered to wait a few more days for the free shipping you don't even save any money.

      I just use the free trials they offer every few months, but never pay for it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    11. Re:lol amazon prime by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      I'm sorry but they robbed everyone in America by committing bribery and stealing the Public Domain from We, The People, so ask me how much I give a fuck. Until We, The People actually get a seat at the table and copyrights become what the constitution spelled out which was a LIMITED PERIOD instead of Valenti's "forever minus a single day"? Excuse me if I don't feel bad if someone mugs a fucking thief.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. The cycle is almost complete by Baron_Yam · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  3. It's all about CONVENIENCE. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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

    1. Re:It's all about CONVENIENCE. by TWX · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I think you're drilling-down too far.

      Pirated content is free from restrictions governing its availability. It's availability is not limited to a single television season for a few weeks or months, or for a slate of a hundred films for a few months before being changed-out and no longer being available. The viewer is free to watch any content that they can find any time they want to.

      We have over 2000 movies and TV seasons in our physical media collection spanning five formats. There are no restrictions preventing us from watching whatever we want from this set. If streaming is going to work, this is how it will have to work, like someone's personal movie collection, with everything possible available all of the time, ad infinitum. Forever.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    2. Re:It's all about CONVENIENCE. by nickittynickname · · Score: 2

      I know that's why many people pirate. They will buy the digital title through apple or amazon. Then they will download it from TPB in the format they want for whatever device they have. This is especially true for disney titles and media for children where parents want the movies for not connected hand me down phone or tablets.

    3. Re:It's all about CONVENIENCE. by peragrin · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It gets better as studios are still restricting content per region and sometimes country. In Europe and USA and Canada you can get commercial for shows that are airing a few miles away but you can't legally watch for another few months per the studios desired schedule.

      I find it funny. You have a hit show world wide. You tell the word when it will air in country a and then get pissed when the world pirates it since it won't be in their country for 6-9 months in the future.

      Piracy is and always will be an economic one if people are pirating your content that means the supply side is not meeting the needs of the demand side in a massive way.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    4. Re:It's all about CONVENIENCE. by TWX · · Score: 2

      Sometimes I wonder if their staggered-release model is to attempt to span revenue over time. It's generally easier to budget when revenue comes in as a stream rather than in chunks.

      I don't necessarily agree with it mind you, especially when it's been proven that the viewing audience is only willing to wait so long for the next thing that's already out.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    5. Re:It's all about CONVENIENCE. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      Disabling common, expected technology is a deal breaker too. For example, if I buy an ebook, it better support text to speech with my choice of high quality speech synthesis engine. I'm not paying 30 bucks for your audiobook version, if you try to force me I'll be paying you nothing at all.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. Obligatory Oatmeal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny
    1. Re:Obligatory Oatmeal by hawguy · · Score: 5, Funny

      http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

      Sure that's funny and all, but how do I find the site for "Impossibly proportioned girls that want to date your testicles!"? I've been searching for that my whole life!

    2. Re:Obligatory Oatmeal by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Pirated content: timely, convenient, a decent choice of formats and compression, unencumbered with DRM for offline watching on any device, a huge selection of both older and new material, easy to find and download. And also cheap, but I put that advantage last for a reason. Remember when we had AllOfMP3? At the time I said it made a great example for a proper legal online music shop. Maybe at some point the movie / TV industry will take note as well, and start offering their content in a more timely and friendly manner.

      In this country, the official position used to be "provide your content in an acceptable manner or we won't prosecute people when they pirate it". They have since changed that policy but I still think it's a decent one. Specifically where it concerns geoblocked content. Not willing to sell here for some arbitrary reason? Then people are free to avail themselves of it as far as I am concerned, and that's precisely what I did for a while with ebooks. I'd try the regular stores, and if I hit a geoblock (which was very often during the early days of ebooks) I'd try a store that accepted PayPal (so I could just enter a bogus US address and bypass the block). But if that failed, TPB usually had what I wanted.

      Copyright was intented to foster the spread of cultural works, and to encourage creators to keep on creating. Giving creators a chance to make some money with their craft is one way to encourage them thusly, but the reward is a means, not an end.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    3. Re:Obligatory Oatmeal by mjwx · · Score: 2

      http://theoatmeal.com/comics/game_of_thrones

      Sure that's funny and all, but how do I find the site for "Impossibly proportioned girls that want to date your testicles!"? I've been searching for that my whole life!

      This.

      And to add to this that a lot of content that is available on US Netflix is not available outside the US, even on Netflix. So if publishers are going to try to lock down their content, they can expect pirates.

      I believe Gabe Newel, Brad Wardell (Of Stardock) as well as whoever is in charge of CD Projekt Red (GOG) have all said something along the lines of "pirates are just unserved customers".

        In order for me to pay for some shows in the UK I need to wait for them to come out on DVD... that misses a huge window of opportunity for the vendor as I'm not going to wait six months for that to happen when I can just download them for free. Sure I feel a little bad for it... but then I think, fuck it, I tried to give them my money and they didn't want it. Hell, some shows dont even make it here on DVD.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  5. Pirate PowARR!! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 2

    Prepare to be boarded, lilly-livered DRM-lubbers!

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  6. People don't tolerate rent-seeking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  7. Re:Availability of content by Njorthbiatr · · Score: 2

    Crunchy Roll I think has the rights for Simulcast of this show.

    But you do have a point that real shows are region locked or not licensed in certain regions. It's attempting to control distribution of something that's always going to be easily distributed that's the problem.

  8. "Can't stop the signal, Mal" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

  9. You make your own bed by transami · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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:
    1. Re:You make your own bed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We pay $100 a month for something that we used to get for free over the air.

      Bullshit. What you used to get over the air, you can still get over the air, for free.
      You pay $100 a month because you aren't willing to settle just for what comes over the air, or even the basic cable/satellite package... you decided you wanted even more.

  10. Flawed Study by BenFranske · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  11. Work the system... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

  12. Why I pirate? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Why I pirate? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      What's baffling is the lack of french dubbed content on Netflix Canada. According to 2011 statistics, english is used by 58% of the population and french by 22%. So take the smaller-than-USA catalog, put only maybe 10% of it dubbed in french (most of the time there's not even french subtitles either) and that means Netflix Canada are losing at least 20% of potential customers.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  13. Re:Availability of content by pr0fessor · · Score: 2

    I had cable for years even though there were other options because the content I wanted just wasn't there yet... now it's much better but if you need to sign up for a subscriptions on half a dozen sites then you may as well be paying for cable.

    I have netflix, prime, my dvd collection, and a bunch or free ad supported content like cbs and cwtv that I watch and no cable. I don't mind commercials on free content, I do however mind paying for cable and still having a boat load of commercials.

  14. Go ahead MPAA...convey your "damage" by geekmux · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "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.

    1. Re:Go ahead MPAA...convey your "damage" by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 3, Funny

      What's annoying is those messages at the end of the credits, such as "This movie was produced with 15,000 people" and such.

      What they will never write is "This movie was produced with 15,000 people and the three main actors got 95% of the money."

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  15. Non-negotiable items by rtkluttz · · Score: 2

    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.
  16. Think of the children! by irrational_design · · Score: 4, Funny

    "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.

  17. There MAY have been a survey, by jenningsthecat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:There MAY have been a survey, by davecb · · Score: 3, Informative

      We call this a "push" survey. It usually ends with a question like "now that you know X, will you do Y?"

      --
      davecb@spamcop.net
  18. Re:Many people tired but... by bgrahambo · · Score: 3, Funny

    So..I wait for DVD's from the library.

    That's code for "I downloaded it on BitTorrent"

  19. what do you expect? by Khashishi · · Score: 2

    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.

  20. It's been said before... by grasshoppa · · Score: 2

    ...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!
  21. cost vs income? by JustNiz · · Score: 2

    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.

  22. Dear TechinAsia by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 2

    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.

  23. Nailed it. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    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.

  24. DRM by smccurry · · Score: 2

    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.

  25. "Despite Netflix" ? by thegarbz · · Score: 2

    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".

  26. This + Plex.tv by waspleg · · Score: 2

    Make your own streaming service for free.