MPAA publishes worldwide Internet piracy report, things are bad!

July 9, 2004

GristyMcFisty and Quakester2000
both reported different articles to us regarding the MPAA's (Motion Picture
Association of America ) worldwide Internet piracy report, which was released yesterday. The report, available in PDF-format here, was conducted under 3,600 Internet users from 8 different countries.

The piracy report tells us that from the participants, 50% has downloaded copyrighted content in the last year and about one in four Internet users (24%) has downloaded a movie. From the participants, 26% say that they buy movies less often because they already downloaded it off the Internet:

"Free" is consistently ranked among the top reasons for downloading movies in each study market. However, there are some differences in the findings, such as the perception that movies are too expensive, which is much more prevalent in EC markets than elsewhere.

Downloaders most frequently learn about the ability to download films through word of mouth. Information on the Internet and past experience downloading music files also
prompted piracy, especially in certain markets.

Although in the minority, a substantial percentage of respondents have no qualms with the concept of downloading films before they are released theatrically. Nearly half believe it 's acceptable to download movies before they 're released on DVD/video and the vast majority has no objection to downloading after it is released on DVD/video.

According to the report, the fact that pirating movies through the Internet is illegal is a major deterrent for non-downloaders. Other reasons the report gives for people who don't download movies are because they prefer to have the high-quality official DVD with its original packaging, they enjoy going to the cinema, or they simply haven't yet discovered where on the Internet to find films.

Source: MPAA