Comedy is the most pirated genre of entertainment, with half of all pirate viewers streaming comedy content illegally, a new Synamedia research conducted by Ampere Analysis has revealed.
This is then followed by the action-and-adventure genre, and the crime-and-thriller category. Collectively, the broadcast media and entertainment industry can potentially unlock US$21.8 billion in revenue by converting movie and TV pirates to legal services. In comparison, sports would create $9.8 billion in potential revenue, with football the top piracy attraction for sports.
Pirate viewers using both free and paid for services are more likely to be male with paying pirates more likely to be men under 35 with young children. The research finds that 44% of affluent consumers pay to pirate live sports, despite most pirates falling into lower income groups, indicating a desire to cut costs and watch all sports in one place.
As fragmentation of content rights continues, the research finds that pirate viewers tend to be those who are most engaged with content. As consumers increase the number of legal subscriptions they have, they also become increasingly likely to watch pirate content with 91% of respondents who have access to five or more legal video subscription services have also watched illegal content.
Avigail Gutman, Vice-President of Intelligence & Security Operations, Synamedia, said, “Unless the industry takes action, the fragmentation of premium content compounded by the current economic climate will continue to drive viewers to both paid and free piracy services. This represents a real risk to rights holders, broadcasters and streaming providers.
“As well as using tools and techniques to protect content and services, operators can counter the rise in piracy by ensuring content is easy to find and meeting consumers’ demands for mobile-first services, as well as more aggregated services and billing.”