Singapore Screen Community Encourages Audiences To Say No To Piracy With New Campaign

Singapore Screen Community Encourages Audiences To “Say No To Piracy” With New Consumer Campaign

Singapore’s screen community celebrated World IP Day today with the launch of a new consumer awareness campaign encouraging audiences to access their favourite shows from legal sources, and to say no to piracy.

The short animation, created by award-winning Singaporean animation company Robot Playground, invites audiences into the lifecycle of the film and television industry, illustrating the vital role played by paying customers to the health and sustainability of the creative community.

While there are a wide range of legal online video options available to audiences in Singapore, including HOOQ, Netflix, Starhub Go, Singtel TV on demand, Toggle, Viu, Amazon Prime Video, Mubi, Catchplay, Pooq and Guidedoc.tv, and with cinema complexes offering the latest movie releases within easy reach of most Singaporeans, online piracy remains at significant levels. In fact, according to publicly available Custom analysis of Alexa data, local visits at pirate sites are 1.14 times higher than those at legitimate sites. The data shows that the top five piracy websites were accessed more that 7 million times by Singaporeans in March 2018.

In recent times, Singapore has seen a significant proliferation of piracy boxes and apps being made available for sale to consumers, who may not be aware that much of the content made accessible to them is provided without the authority of the rights owners. Both the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and the Infocomm Media Development Authority have urged viewers to access legitimate content, and content providers to offer competitive prices.

Commenting on the development of the new campaign, Robot Playground creative director Bernard Toh, said, “As an animation studio, valuing and protecting intellectual property is at the very heart of our industry, so it was a lot of fun working with film and TV industry organizations to conceptualise and produce this animated video."

“We are happy to stand here today with fellow members of the creative community in support of this consumer awareness campaign,” said Howie Lau, Chief Marketing Officer of StarHub. “Everyone has a part to play in a thriving creative industry. Hence we hope this campaign encourages consumers to learn more about the important responsibility they have in deciding the type of content which gets produced and sustaining the creators of content.”

Clara Cheo, CEO of Golden Village Multiplex, said, “The protection of Intellectual Property is critical in the nurturing and flourishment of any creative process. The movie industry has been severely impacted by rampant illegal downloading and the increasing use of illicit streaming boxes and apps. Statistics continue to show that many still prefer to pilfer content. Apart from the continuing education effort, more can be done in regulatory enforcement.”

Mike Ellis, President and Managing Director, Asia Pacific, Motion Picture Association, said, “Education is key to growing awareness about the value of intellectual property. Campaigns like this help to illustrate to film and TV lovers how important paying viewers are to the entire film and TV industry value chain. When a viewer pays to enjoy a film or TV show, they contribute to the ongoing investment in new quality content, keep people in jobs, and support the creative community.”

Frank Rittman, Centre for Content Promotion, said, “Audiences now have a wide range of quality legal content at very competitive prices available at their fingertips. Even so, piracy remains at critical levels, with access to illegal streaming sites surpassing use of the many legal online video services, and sales of piracy boxes and apps on the rise. It’s good to see the entertainment industry engaging with their customers to encourage them to do the right thing.”

The campaign was launched at a World IP Day celebration event held at Golden Village Suntec City, and will be featured on video screens at the foyers of Cathay Cineplexes, Golden Village Cinemas and Shaw Theatres. The campaign video will also be shown on selected Starhub TV channels and on the Centre for Content Promotion website.

The day’s activities also featured a panel discussion entitled "Powering Change: Women in Creativity and Innovation", moderated by Nikki Loke from Viddsee, and featuring Annabelle Kwok, CEO of NeuralBay, and filmmakers Christine Seow and Ang Geck Geck.

The panellists discussed their inspirations and how they nurture creativity, as well as the challenges they face pursuing careers in the creative industry.

“Technical skills are always in demand, but it is a lot harder as a director to realise your projects, especially your first. I had to build my reel and fund it from my own pocket,” said Ang Geck Geck, who worked various odd jobs to bankroll her passion.

Guests were also treated to a special screening of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther, thanks to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.