Video streaming giant Netflix believes that making content available is the best way to beat online piracy, and the company has data to back this up. Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos reveals that ISPs are noticing a drop in BitTorrent traffic every time they launch in a new territory. “The best way to combat piracy isn’t legislatively or criminally but by giving good options,” Sarandos says.

With nearly 30 million streaming subscribers in the U.S. alone, Netflix is one the major providers of online video entertainment.

That’s quite an achievement, especially when taking into consideration that streaming Hollywood blockbusters was virtually impossible half a decade ago.

Furthermore, with the rise of these legal options people have less incentive to search for pirated copies on file-sharing sites – two years ago we noted that Netflix was killing (unauthorized) BitTorrent traffic. Now Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos reports he has some evidence to back up this claim.

In a recent interview with Stuff, Sarandos notes that BitTorrent traffic dips every time the video provider opens up shop in a new location.

“One of the things is we get ISPs to publicise their connection speeds – and when we launch in a territory the BitTorrent traffic drops as the Netflix traffic grows. So I think people do want a great experience and they want access – people are mostly honest.”

In other words, many people who previously pirated movies via BitTorrent stop doing so when Netflix becomes available. Choice is also the key to solving the piracy problem according to the Netflix CCO.

“The best way to combat piracy isn’t legislatively or criminally but by giving good options,” Sarandos says.

It’s not rocket science and quite logical to most, but still there are many parts of the world where movie and TV streaming options are rather limited. Even in the United States some releases are held back or delayed to save old business models.

According to Sarandos this has to change – people want to consume Hollywood content and need legal options to do so.

“One of the side effects of growth of content is an expectation to have access to it. You can’t use the Internet as a marketing vehicle and then not as a delivery vehicle,” he says.

There’s still a lot can be done to improve the current situation. Since the launch of Netflix’s streaming service in 2008, BitTorrent traffic has continued to rise in the United States, but it’s indicative that Game of Thrones is one of the most pirated titles of all time.

After all, HBO is not making it easy for people to access the show and Netflix is unable to buy it.

Of course, there are many reasons why people pirate and there will always be freeloaders who simply can’t or won’t pay. But this is no reason to offend those who have the right intentions.

Making content available may not make piracy disappear, but at the very minimum it gives the millions of people who want to pay a place to spend their money.

this is pure BULLSH_T on nutf_cks part. piracy is down because movie and music sales are down. every year that the music or movie industry has had their highest sales piracy has been at it highest. the year when sales have been low piracy has gone down accordingly. H_LL i just downloaded nutf_cks entire first season for hemlock grove.

That's no so true, even if music and movie sales are low they are still being released therefor can be pirated, so low sales and piracy have no relation to each other and if they did it would be because everyone is downloading the content illegally and not paying for it.

The reason piracy in torrenting is down is the fact that unfortunately the torrent world is slowly dying and streaming is on the up.

the facts speak for themselves. when movie / music sales were at their highest piracy was at it's highest, when sales went back down so did piracy. regardless of claims for every torrent site taken down at least 3 more are opened. some forums that have been using services like mega, mediafire, upload, etc... have been converting to torrents. if anything the use of torrents is on the increase.

Originally Posted by odyssey

Telecoms regulator Ofcom has just published a study into the state of online copyright infringement in the UK, with some very interesting conclusions. The researchers found that 10% of the country’s most prolific infringers are responsible for almost 80% of all infringements carried out online, but with a bonus. These plus an additional 10% of infringers spend 300% more than ‘honest’ consumers who don’t infringe copyright at all.

Early 2012 UK telecoms regulator Ofcom commissioned research designed to track consumer behavior and attitudes towards the legal and illegal consumption of copyrighted material.
The research targeted Internet users over 12 years old with the aim of gathering information on the way they consume movies, music, TV shows, video games, software and books to assist with copyright enforcement policy making. The results are now in and they interesting to say the least.
The researchers split infringers into several categories according to their attitudes and motivations.
So-called ‘Justifying Infringers’ were the group who demonstrated the highest levels of infringing behavior. This group accounted for 9% of all infringers, 24% of total infringed volume and 2% of total digital consumers. They felt that they’d already spent enough on content (the researchers say this was confirmed) but like to try before they buy. They’re also the most receptive group when it comes to considering fairly priced legal alternatives.
The ‘Digital Transgressors’ group (9% of all infringers, 22% of total infringed volume, 2% of total digital consumers) consumed more films and TV shows than the ‘Justifying Infringers’. While they showed the least remorse over their behavior, this group had the highest fear of getting caught and the researchers say they would be the most receptive to warning notices sent by ISPs.
The largest group, the ‘Free Infringers’ (42% of infringers, 35% of infringed volume, 10% of total digital consumers) lived up to their name. They all download content because its free and pay for the lowest proportion of legal content compared to the other infringers.
Ambiguous Infringers (39% of infringers, 20% of infringed volume, 9% of total digital consumers) had the lowest level of digital consumption and the highest proportion of paid and legal content. They made less attempt to justify their infringing.

“Most infringing segments found it easy to find content on the internet for free which would normally be paid, ranging from 45% for the Ambiguous Infringers to 76% for the Top 20% infringers,” the researchers note. “Among non-infringers the figures were notably lower, ranging from 28% to 45%.”
Looking at the infringers overall, the researchers made some very interesting discoveries, particularly among the most prolific.
The top 10% of infringers (who accounted for just 1.6% of all Internet users over 12) were responsible for a massive 79% of all infringed content. Pull in another 10%, to consider the top 20% of all infringers (equal to 3.2% of all Internet users over 12), and this group were responsible for 88% of all infringements.
This means that the other 80% of the total infringers accounted for just 12% of all infringements by volume.

While they are undoubtedly prolific consumers of illicit content, the Top 20% group proves to be of great value to entertainment companies. Not only does the group account for 11% of all legal content consumed, but they also spend the most.
Across all content types, the top 20% of infringers on average not only spend more than the remaining 80% of infringers, but also more than consumers who never infringe. The figures are impressive – the 20% worst infringers spent £168 over the six month monitoring period with the remaining 80% spending £105. Tailing in last place were the ‘honest’ consumers with just £54 spent, three times less than the prolific pirate group.
“For all content types there were differences in terms of payment between the two groups; the large majority (92% overall) of content consumed by the Top 20% Infringers was free. This compared to 76% among the Bottom 80% Infringers,” the researchers write. “However, because they consumed more content in total, the Top 20% purchased more ‘paid for’ digital files in absolute terms than the Bottom 80%.”
Later on in the report the researchers reveal which services – authorized and unauthorized – respondents use to access content. Even for the infringers, authorized sites such as YouTube and BBC iPlayer prove most popular as the table below shows.

Interestingly, despite being blocked in the UK during the research period, The Pirate Bay is still being used by almost a third of the top 20% of infringers. The site was used by just 9% of the bottom 80% of infringers which perhaps suggests that the more hardcore the pirate, the more likely they are to unblock a site.
So what might encourage infringers to stop accessing content illegally? As usual, pricing, availability and convenience top the list. Interestingly, fears over internet disconnections in the Top 20% group trumped fears of being sued.

http://torrentinvites.org/f31/%91wor...nsumers-60790/