A recent online poll concluded that one in three Americans pirate movies or television shows over the past year. It concluded that one of the major factors in pirating was the price of streaming services. This is one of those stories that comes with a “in related news, water is wet.” Price in streaming services leads to piracy. This isn’t anything new. But this isn’t as it was say a decade ago.
The online survey, conducted by Cordcutting, reported by TorrentFreak, among a sample of 988 American adults, finds that a third of all respondents pirated TV series or movies in the past year. The problem with the poll is that overall, piracy is down. However, a majority of people that do pirate content are Gen-Z with 76 percent. Only 28 percent of pirates are baby boomers.
While the piece uses the line that “price in streaming services” as a major factor in piracy, the only portion that beats price is content. Particular content on some streaming services. In the breakdown below we see cost is 35 percent, while content beats it with 36 percent.
Price in Streaming Services Accounts for Piracy.
That first reason is more than enough to grab attention. However, “piracy” really gets people to click on the article. However, to frame the discussion in a topical aspect, fragmentation of content is a major reason. For someone like me, I would not want to subscribe to Peacock for a movie. Their overall content isn’t worth paying a full subscription.
You saw this with Netflix. People would sign up for shows like Cobra Kai, Stranger Things, and others. Binge the whole season, then cancel at the end of the month.
Now, the third reason is just as eye-opening. 31 percent pirate due to content not being available through official sites. This was thrown into the public eye when Max took down some of their content, to avoid paying residuals to creatives for low viewing shows.
Right now, you can find much of the superhero moves from Max available on ad-supported sites like Tubi or Freevee. These are cost-saving measure by the studios, this forces people to look elsewhere for content they wish to view.
Studios are the cause for piracy
Back in the eighties, studios sued to prevent VCR owners from recording content. They claimed that this would kill the movie and television industry. This was hardly the case. Film and television thrived in the eighties into the nineties.
Recently, with studios consolidating studios and attempting to increase revenue, the consumer is shortchanged. Studios trying to figure out how to increase revenue from streaming services, they jack prices. Remove content. Loan it out to other platforms. Some people, like me, will return to purchasing physical media. Others will simply pirate what they want.