Consumers blame cost, restrictions for illegal downloads

Having no access to legal content and the high cost of such content were among the top reasons viewers worldwide watched pirated videos, insiders said during the 23rd China Content Broadcasting Network Exhibition recently held in Beijing.

Rory O'Connor, vice-president of Services at Irdeto Co, which offers services including piracy control, said at the event that 46 percent of 1,000 Chinese viewers surveyed by the company watched pirated content due to a lack of legal content on hand.

Some said they did not want to wait for the video content to be officially released and others watched pirated videos because licensed content was unavailable on the Chinese mainland, according to the survey done in March 2014.

Another survey by the company targeting the Asia-Pacific region found that residents of Australia said the lack of legal video on hand was the most important reason they watched illegal content.

That was also given as one of the top reasons viewers in Singapore, India and Indonesia watch pirated videos.

Worldwide pirated downloads for the popular drama House of Cards soared on Feb 27, when its third season became available on Netflix, a video streaming website in the United States, reported US entertainment magazine Variety.

The magazine cited piracy tracker Excipio in Germany as saying that China ranked highest for season three piracy in the first 24 hours.

Li Na, an anti-piracy investigator at Irdeto, said viewers in China downloaded pirated episodes of the drama because they "had no access" to genuine content.

China's authorized platforms will only offer the episodes after they obtain publication licenses, according to a regulation issued by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in September 2014.

Insiders at the exhibition believed viewers not only have demand for high-quality videos but also need to watch them via different devices.

Irdeto's survey in China showed that 85 percent of viewers watch videos on tablets, laptops, desktops and smartphones and 37 percent view video content while commuting.

Price was another major factor that viewers of illegal content took into account, insiders agreed at a seminar held during the exhibition.

About 28 percent of the 1,000 Chinese viewers surveyed by Irdeto said they watched illegal videos because legal content cost too much.

Consumers in Singapore, India and Indonesia also considered the expense of legal videos a key reason for watching pirated content.

Bengt Jonsson, vice-president of Irdeto Sales in the Asia-Pacific region, said the company found older viewers were more likely to watch licensed videos than younger watchers, possibly because they were more able to afford to pay for legal content.

Li told the seminar that Foxtel, an Australian pay television firm, halved the subscription fees for its cable and satellite offerings in September 2014 and reduced the price of its movies by 20 percent.

By doing so, the firm attracted more customers and piracy of its content was reduced, she said.

The exhibition, which took place from March 24 to 28, is the biggest broadcasting technologies and equipment exposition in the Asia-Pacific region and attracted some 1,000 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions this year.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/01/2015 page17)