UK 'pirates' spend more on legal streaming than non-pirating peers

ONE IN FIVE BRITS illegally download music, films and TV shows, research has revealed, but spent more money on legal services than their non-pirating peers.

Research published by the government's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) shows that 26 percent of Brits illegally downloaded music between March and

May this year, while 25 percent and 21 percent pirated films and TV shows respectively.

The IPO surveyed over 5,000 people, who revealed that they downloaded content illegally largely because it was convenient and free. No shit.

However, while 'pirates' are often tarred with the bad guy brush, the report reveals that those illegally downloading some content spend more on accessing legal services, such as Netfilx and Spotify, than those who do not.

For example, Brits who pirate music and access it legally spent an average of £77.56 between March and May, compared with £49.50 by those who access content by 100 percent legal means.

So-called pirates also spent more on accessing films, TV shows and video games legally, although they didn't fork out as much when it came to computer programs and software.

With this in mind, it's perhaps no surprise that the report shows that legal services like Netflix and Spotify are going from strength to strength, enjoying a 10 percent increase in take up since 2013.

Intellectual property minister Baroness Neville Rolfe said: "It's great news that a huge proportion of UK consumers are going online to enjoy music, TV shows, video games and e-books legally, supporting our creative industries to grow and showing the benefits of making legal content widely available.

"By building a clear picture of online streaming and downloading trends we can work with industry and international partners to tackle the problems of internet piracy and increase public awareness of the ways people can download and stream legally."

While the research showed that many pirates are in fact big spenders, the report unsurprisingly didn't mention that the UK government is ready to consider increasing the maximum prison sentence for online piracy from two years to 10.