Many consumers don't care about the impact of piracy

Almost a third of consumers watch pirated content even though they know it's illegal to do so and that it deprives the content creators of revenue.

The study for platform security company Irdeto conducted by YouGov finds that 74 percent of US consumers know that sharing pirated content is illegal and 69 percent that downloading it is.

Despite this, 32 percent of respondents admit to watching pirated content. When told that pirated video content can result in studios losing money, meaning they can’t invest in creating content, 39 percent say that this knowledge has no effect on the amount of pirated video content they want to watch.

Only 19 percent of respondents say that the financial damage caused by piracy would stop them from watching pirated content altogether. However, many consumers do fully understand the negative impact piracy has on the content creation business.

"The negative impact that piracy has on the content creation industry extends much further than lost revenue," says Lawrence Low, vice president of business development and sales at Irdeto. "Piracy deters content creators from investing in new content, impacting the creative process and providing consumers with less choice. It is becoming increasingly important for operators and movie studios to educate consumers on the tactics employed by pirates and to further promote innovative offerings that allow consumers to legally acquire content."

The most popular pirated content is TV series, watched by 24 percent of respondents, and pirated movies that are currently showing in theaters, also 24 percent. Pirated DVD and Blu-ray movies are watched by 18 percent, live sports (10 percent) and original content from Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and others (nine percent).

More information on the findings and on piracy control is available on the Irdeto website.

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