Streaming services lead to decline in piracy

The growing popularity of streaming services such as Netflix and Stan in Australia has led to a decline in online copyright infringement rates, a government survey indicates.

The second annual survey of online piracy, conducted by TNS Australia, shows that 23% of Australian internet users were engaging in online copyright infringement in the first three months of 2016. This is down from 26% last year.

Only around a quarter of infringers, representing 6% of internet users overall, meanwhile exclusively consumed pirated content.

But piracy rates are also higher among digital content consumers, with 37% reporting consuming unlawful content. In line with the trend, this is down from 43% in 2015.

The proportion of consumers who had used Netflix meanwhile grew significantly to 27% in 2016, up from 9% in 2015.

The free YouTube remained the most commonly used service for consuming and sharing online content, although usage of the site fell from 55% in 2015 to 48% in 2016. This was followed by Apple’s iTunes, although usage declined from 37% in 2015 to just 32% in 2016.

Foxtel’s Presto, Stan and SBS On Demand all also saw significant increases in usage over the period.

Due to the popularity of on-demand services, streaming has also become the most common way to consume digital content, and this trend increased in 2016. Streaming increased from 54% to 57%, while downloads dropped from 43% to 39%.

TV programs are the most commonly accessed content time via online streaming, followed by movies.

Image courtesy of Esther Vargas under CC