According to a recent study released by Futuresource Consulting, 8 percent of consumers in the U.K., France, Germany and the U.S. admit to downloading content illegally from file-sharing sites.
Of this group, 15 percent said they had downloaded video content illegally, with 25 percent of respondents in France saying so.
“The widespread availability of illicit content presents a major obstacle to the development of online content services, and continues to heavily impact upon revenues, despite governments’ and industry authorities’ renewed attempts to tighten up the system,” according to a company statement.
Ninety percent of those who watched online video content have never paid to watch news or TV programs, while a bit more than half have never paid to watch new films.
“There is a huge appetite for free on-demand TV, but levels of paid-for activity are still low,” said Alison Casey, head of global content at Futuresource.
The study also noted that consumers in the U.K. and U.S. watched video content on a PC or laptop more often than users from France and Germany.
However, Germany was the leading country in terms of connecting laptops to TV sets to access the Internet, while France was a close second in this regard.
Eighty percent of consumers in the U.K. use catch-up or on-demand TV services frequently and more than half said they might be willing to pay for those services in the future.
France and the U.K. are in the midst of passing legislation to punish illegal downloaders.
The next five years will prove to be a “period of major transition for the entertainment industry,” according to Casey. She expects to see a “significant shift in who receives a share of the profits, with a raft of digital platforms and the rise of on-demand content vying for right sand advertising revenues.”
In a company statement, Casey also noted that less than 1 percent of respondents said ads played before, during or after an old movie or TV show stops them from watching, while 30 percent said it had no impact and nearly half of respondents said it only “puts them off a bit – a good indication of the suitability of the ad-funded business model to long-form online content.”
Sources:</strong
http://www.newswiretoday.com/news/52876/
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/062209-1-in-10-consumers-have.html
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/06/22/eight-percent-have-downloaded-video-illegally
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