The entry of online streaming services like Netflix, Stan and Presto has driven a 4% drop in internet piracy, according to a new study by IP Awareness Foundation. From ABC News:
It is “the first time we have seen a drop” in illegal downloading, IP Awareness Foundation’s executive director Lori Flekser told RN Breakfast…
A third of people said they were downloading less because they found their content legally without pirating or subscribed to streaming services such as Netflix and Stan.
“New streaming services have been a great game-changer … we’ve seen a big take-up of those services,” Ms Flekser said.
“There’s been some significant shifts in the whole delivery of content.”
The report follows analysis by consumer advocacy group CHOICE, which last month claimed that online streaming services had driven a 25% reduction in internet piracy.
It’s hardly rocket science, is it? The key to reducing piracy is to free-up the market for content, so that purchasing it legally is as convenient as unlawfully downloading from the internet.
It is precisely the extreme geo-blocking and protection that surrounds much international content distributed through Australian cable television that has driving consumers to seek alternative sources, albeit illegally.
But provide Australians with the same affordable access to television and movies as citizens in other countries, and they will no longer need to “pirate” shows using file sharing services like bit torrent.
Now imagine how much further piracy rates would drop if Netflix’s Australian offering was the same as its US service, which has around six times the content?
