Four myths about online piracy, who’s doing it and why!

[Sebi]

Online piracy has become an emotive issue. In November I wrote about how the practice has become normalised in Australia, something to brag about even, and certainly not to hide.

Some of you agreed with me and some of you, well, lost it – in general, at me and each other (refer to the 252 publishable comments the column generated). So we delved a little deeper into the subject to shed more light onto who the pirates are and why they do it.

Through an Ipsos survey of 3321 Australian TV viewers, we explored their content-viewing habits. The findings - included in the study TVDailies - paint a fascinating picture of piracy in Australia and bust a few long-standing myths.

Myth 1: Piracy is a fringe behaviour conducted only by geeks and dodgy people with a general disregard for the law

Ready for a reality check? Nineteen per cent of those surveyed (based on a nationally representative sample) have downloaded TV shows, movies and video content without paying for it. So that's just a smidgen under one in five Australians. Which means that could include your boss, the nice man who makes your coffee in the morning and the woman who runs the P&C at your kid's school, if not yourself.

Myth 2: Only 'young' people pirate

Certainly, if you're aged between 18-39 you are more likely than the general population to pirate - 29 per cent of this age group pirate, compared to 19 per cent of the general population. But, the richer and better educated you are – the more likely you are to pirate regardless of age. Twenty-five per cent of those with a university degree pirate, while 29 per cent of those with a personal income of more than $120,000 per year pirate.

Myth 3: People pirate because they're too tight to pay for content

As above, the more you earn, the more likely you are to pirate - so pirating is clearly not about being short of cash. The other key survey finding that supports this is that 31 per cent of pirates also have pay TV - which means that they are clearly quite happy to pay for content (well, just as much as the general population is).

Pirates are also much more likely to pay for downloads, with 23 per cent of them paying for downloads via the likes of iTunes and Google Play, while only 11 per cent of the general population does. They are also twice as likely to use paid online streaming services, such as Quickflix, than the rest of us.

So if it's not the money, then what is that drives pirates? It's the same old elephant in the room. By and large people in Australia pirate because they don't want to wait months to watch their favourite TV shows or movies. It's a timely access, not a cost, problem.

Myth 4: Pirates pirate everything

No, they don't. Pirating is just one part of a repertoire when it comes to content consumption – they're also big consumers of free content.

Twice as many pirates (64 per cent) access content via free online streaming services, such as ABC iView and other catch-up services, than everyone else. Interestingly, they watch slightly less free-to-air TV than the rest of us. Probably because they're too busy watching all of the other content they've accessed – free, paid and pirated.

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/social-radar/four-myths-about-online-piracy-whos-doing-it-and-why-20150309-13z2vm.html