Netflixand similar services developed first in the West, offering a competitive advantage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A new study from Irdeto shows the most developed entertainment markets slowly turning their back on content piracy.
Although far from suggesting the battle for copyright is won in countries like the U.S. and U.K., the study provides a vision for tackling the stranglehold that piracy sites seem to have on a global scale.
In short, surveys of U.S. and U.K. consumers found that almost three-quarters of them now choose legitimate channels when deciding where to get their content.
It has taken well over a decade to reach these levels, but the promise for creators and content providers is that security, ease of access and reliability will win out against disreputable channels once a market reaches online maturity.
In the U.S. that means providers like Netflix, Hulu and Spotify opening up widespread access to movies and music, as well as traditional broadcasters finding ways to bring their established content offerings to online channels, via web players and mobile apps.
East vs. West, Tech vs. Channel
Eastern entertainment markets are just as important to content makers, and technologically they’re already ahead in many ways. Internet speeds in many Asian countries regularly outstrip those in the U.S., while India is a hotbed of early tech adopters.
Where Western markets differ – and which the Irdeto survey seems to indicate is a crucial differentiation – is the maturity of legitimate online channels . As so much of the world’s entertainment is driven by Hollywood, it makes sense that the most prominent content providers would also spring from North America, as well as the similarly established European markets.
Accordingly, piracy has remained a much more viable alternative to legitimate providers in the East, as recent activity in Singapore shows. Technology and connection speeds provide instant access, but without a trusted name for consumers to turn to pirate sites fill the void. If domestic content providers can begin to gain a foothold with audiences in these areas, or if Western companies can successfully expand into those markets, governments and rights holders alike would expect to see them embraced.
As these markets mature, it has to be hoped that the U.S. and U.K. consumer stats will flow into these emerging markets. The demand is clearly there.
The challenge is to show viewers and listeners that a monthly subscription or one-time fee is a small price to pay for safe, secure content access from a legitimate provider they can trust.
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