A survey commissioned by the Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) has revealed that while piracy rates remain stable in many countries around Asia-Pacific, there have been notable increases in Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Notably, rights holders in all three of these countries were shown to have been facing challenges in procuring effective and efficient site blocking, an effective tool to mitigate piracy harm.
For those countries that are implementing site blocking effectively, there were demonstrable effects in behavioural change with 62% of consumers in Indonesia and 64% in Malaysia indicating that they had changed their viewing habits as a result of pirate sites being blocked. Both of these countries have long-running, effective and efficient regulatory blocking regimes.
In Singapore in particular, one of the first countries in the region to allow rights holders to protect their content via the provision of judicial site blocking measures, the survey showed that after almost ten years of this measure being in place, the territory had the lowest percentage of consumer piracy in the region, with only 39% of consumers pirating. However, CAP also found that there remains issues with the time and cost involved with obtaining site blocking orders in Singapore.
Awareness of the risks associated with online piracy also continued to grow, with at least 80% of consumers in every market around the region unequivocal that piracy has negative consequences. Consumers were also aware that the perceived damage varies from job losses, impact on the creative industries and also the risk of malware infection on personal computers and devices.
Encouragingly, the survey showed that regular site blocking not only stops consumers accessing pirated content online, but was also driving them towards legitimate sources, with an average of 20% of consumers subscribing to paid services and an average of over 40% accessing legitimate free content services as a result of pirate sites being blocked.
Furthermore, almost half of consumers around the region stated they would subscribe to legitimate paid online services if the content they wanted to watch was not available via a pirate source. more than 60% of consumers across the region said they would subscribe to legitimate services if there was no pirate content available on social media and messaging platforms.
In addition to consumers accessing pirate content via pirate streaming sites, apps or illicit streaming devices (ISDs), social media and messaging platforms providing access to pirated content continue to be a concern as one of the main sources of accessing pirate content. CAP said it was working with the major platforms across the region to address this issue.
“The evidence continues to show that site blocking, when implemented in an efficient and effective way, is an incredibly powerful tool to both stop online piracy, and direct consumers towards legitimate content,” noted CAP general manager Matt Cheetham. “As with the 2022 survey, the data points towards an ongoing consumption of pirate content via social media and messaging platforms…The surveys also show the benefits of consumer education with a growing awareness amongst consumers of the negative consequences of piracy, particularly via illicit profiteering and malware.”
For those countries that are implementing site blocking effectively, there were demonstrable effects in behavioural change with 62% of consumers in Indonesia and 64% in Malaysia indicating that they had changed their viewing habits as a result of pirate sites being blocked. Both of these countries have long-running, effective and efficient regulatory blocking regimes.
In Singapore in particular, one of the first countries in the region to allow rights holders to protect their content via the provision of judicial site blocking measures, the survey showed that after almost ten years of this measure being in place, the territory had the lowest percentage of consumer piracy in the region, with only 39% of consumers pirating. However, CAP also found that there remains issues with the time and cost involved with obtaining site blocking orders in Singapore.
Awareness of the risks associated with online piracy also continued to grow, with at least 80% of consumers in every market around the region unequivocal that piracy has negative consequences. Consumers were also aware that the perceived damage varies from job losses, impact on the creative industries and also the risk of malware infection on personal computers and devices.
Encouragingly, the survey showed that regular site blocking not only stops consumers accessing pirated content online, but was also driving them towards legitimate sources, with an average of 20% of consumers subscribing to paid services and an average of over 40% accessing legitimate free content services as a result of pirate sites being blocked.
Furthermore, almost half of consumers around the region stated they would subscribe to legitimate paid online services if the content they wanted to watch was not available via a pirate source. more than 60% of consumers across the region said they would subscribe to legitimate services if there was no pirate content available on social media and messaging platforms.
In addition to consumers accessing pirate content via pirate streaming sites, apps or illicit streaming devices (ISDs), social media and messaging platforms providing access to pirated content continue to be a concern as one of the main sources of accessing pirate content. CAP said it was working with the major platforms across the region to address this issue.
“The evidence continues to show that site blocking, when implemented in an efficient and effective way, is an incredibly powerful tool to both stop online piracy, and direct consumers towards legitimate content,” noted CAP general manager Matt Cheetham. “As with the 2022 survey, the data points towards an ongoing consumption of pirate content via social media and messaging platforms…The surveys also show the benefits of consumer education with a growing awareness amongst consumers of the negative consequences of piracy, particularly via illicit profiteering and malware.”
