MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

Ninjalawyer · 05-14-2013, 01:40 PM

There's an interesting report available here from Kantar Media, prepared for Ofcom (the UK's independent regulator and competition authority for communications industries) on illegal downloading.

Some of the more interesting findings from the report are the following:

The Top 10% Infringers accounted for just 1.6% of the 12+ internet user population, but were responsible for 79% of infringed content. The Top 20% infringers, accounting for 3.2% of 12+ internet users, were responsible for 88% of infringements. Generally, the study found that as people consumed more infringed files they also consumed more legal files, and spent more on legal content.
Despite their high levels of infringement, the Top 20% Infringers also accounted for 11% of the legal content consumed.
The Top 20% Infringers also spent significantly more across all content types on average than either the Bottom 80% Infringers or the non-infringing consumers (£168 vs. £105 vs. £54 over the six month period covered).
Of infringers, "free infringers" (those that infringed because it was free) made up 42% of infringers, were responsible for 35% of infringement and spent the least on legal content.

The top four survey responses when the question was asked, "what would make you stop downloading or streaming content illegally?" were

If legal services were cheaper
If everything I wanted was available legally
If legal services were more convenient\flexible
If everything I wanted was available legally online as soon as it was released elsewhere

One is almost led to believe that Gabe Newell (co-founder of Valve Software) was right when he said that many pirates are really under served customers. I'm tempted to go so far as to say that maybe content providers would be better served by making more of their content available legally and easily (and for a price people are willing to pay for) rather than lobbying government for tougher and tougher copyright laws and launching costly lawsuits against people who would appear to be some of their best customers.

05-14-2013, 01:40 PM	#1
Ninjalawyer Guru Posts: 826 Karma: 18573626 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Touch, Nexus 7 (2013)	New UK Report on Illegal Downloaders There's an interesting report available here from Kantar Media, prepared for Ofcom (the UK's independent regulator and competition authority for communications industries) on illegal downloading. Some of the more interesting findings from the report are the following: The Top 10% Infringers accounted for just 1.6% of the 12+ internet user population, but were responsible for 79% of infringed content. The Top 20% infringers, accounting for 3.2% of 12+ internet users, were responsible for 88% of infringements. Generally, the study found that as people consumed more infringed files they also consumed more legal files, and spent more on legal content. Despite their high levels of infringement, the Top 20% Infringers also accounted for 11% of the legal content consumed. The Top 20% Infringers also spent significantly more across all content types on average than either the Bottom 80% Infringers or the non-infringing consumers (£168 vs. £105 vs. £54 over the six month period covered). Of infringers, "free infringers" (those that infringed because it was free) made up 42% of infringers, were responsible for 35% of infringement and spent the least on legal content. The top four survey responses when the question was asked, "what would make you stop downloading or streaming content illegally?" were If legal services were cheaper If everything I wanted was available legally If legal services were more convenient\flexible If everything I wanted was available legally online as soon as it was released elsewhere One is almost led to believe that Gabe Newell (co-founder of Valve Software) was right when he said that many pirates are really under served customers. I'm tempted to go so far as to say that maybe content providers would be better served by making more of their content available legally and easily (and for a price people are willing to pay for) rather than lobbying government for tougher and tougher copyright laws and launching costly lawsuits against people who would appear to be some of their best customers. Last edited by Ninjalawyer; 05-15-2013 at 09:10 AM. Reason: Typo