Streaming Services Given Credit for Piracy Drops in Australia

Streaming services are acknowledged by the Department of Communications of the Australian federal government due to their positive contribution to the plunging of piracy rates in the country.

The trend has been recorded for the fourth consecutive year across films, TV series, and music. The yearly consumer poll on online piracy for 2018 observed 2,453 people.

The first reason for the decrease in piracy incidences is the passage of the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act.

According to the Department of Communications, there has been a related decrease in online copyright infringement since the legislation was passed. A majority of the survey respondents – 56 percent – said that they would not carry on accessing a blocked website.

The law permits rights holders to get a court order to block sites hosted by foreigners which may enable copyright infringement.

Recent piracy blocks happened in June when the Australian Federal Court ordered the blocking of illegal streaming sites.

The other primary reason for the drop in online copyright infringements rates is the introduction of streaming services in Australia. The survey respondents answered queries about their streaming and downloading habits.

The results showed that consumers are subscribing to digital content at a soaring pace. The department pointed out that this development is most likely propelled by subscription video-on-demand services like Stan and Netflix.

The latter’s popularity has skyrocketed dramatically in recent years. In addition, this development nullifies the necessity for customers to get movies and TV shows through other methods.

Statistics show that more consumers – reaching 100 percent – are engaging in legal means to source content this year, as compared to the previous years.

This goes to show that legal video streaming services are utilized more and more by digital content customers. Moreover, these services are giving a positive effect on the requirement and the scaling down of unlawful video entertainment consumption.

Survey respondents said that they prefer to pay for video streaming services instead of engaging in piracy because it is faster, more effortless, and offers better video quality.