Today, many organizations in the entertainment industry are looking for ways to protect their valuable intellectual property in the form of movies, music, or other media from being exploited by Pirates. Pirates pertain to a type of malicious user that illegally sells, streams, or distributes media without the consent of the owner. One of the major challenges with Piracy is the effect it has on the owner’s profit-making ability. When a malicious user sells, stream, or distributes media, it disincentivizes consumers to buy the media from the original owner.
Pirates or consumers downstream from Pirates may not immediately understand the implications their actions have on others. The Film and TV industry employs upwards of five million people directly or indirectly. When Pirates choose to redistribute media illegally, it directly impacts the Film and TV industry, resulting in lost jobs, lower wages, and disruptions to the economy by siphoning money away from the millions of employees interconnected into the film and TV industry.
Piracy Conversion Opportunities is a concept to strategically convert Pirates to legally purchasing customers that chose not to sell, stream or distribute media illegally. To do so, organizations are analyzing what causes certain users to illegally access media or redistribute media illegally. By better understanding the cause for what incentivizes users to act in this manner, they can better understand what preventative measures can be taken to curb this behavior.
One of the fascinating aspects of Piracy Conversion is that oftentimes, Pirates are very open to purchasing the media in question legally should they have the appropriate channels to do so. Take for example some studies that looked at the Chinese Piracy market. Researchers found that when Pirates have access to ways to purchase the media legally they will do so. Often, it’s the limiting of access to this media that incentivizes users to seek illegal channels to gain access to the media. In fact, in China, nearly 50% of Pirates report being open to purchasing movies if they had the ability to do so easily.
Another major consideration in the conversion of Pirates to lawfully abiding customers is the process of making the ramifications of Pirating media more aggressive, thus making Pirates resort to purchasing the media. For instance, instilling laws that make illegal streaming riskier or enforcing existing laws more aggressively has been shown to deter Pirates from practicing illegal distribution or reselling practices.
Research in Piracy Conversion Opportunities also shows that creating roadblocks is an easy way to incentivize Pirates to purchase media illegally. For instance, by watermarking unreleased content and adding pre-roll warning cards, there has been a significant drop in Pirating and redistribution of protected content. By adding in simple hurdles or annoyances, Pirates or streamers viewing the pirated work are quick to jump ship and purchase the authentic version.
If you’re looking to expand upon your security of proprietary content, PacGenesis has the resources to help. As a dedicated Irdeto partner, PacGenesis has helped hundreds of clients as they implement media protection solutions including all of the rich solutions provided by Irdeto. Irdeto stands out as a leader in video entertainment, and video game protection with over 50 years of experience in the security industry. With more than 5 billion platforms protected, Irdeto is an easy choice for supporting effective media security and protection.
About PacGenesis
PacGenesis is a leading business solutions provider and a Premier Irdeto and IBM Gold Business Partner supporting clients for over 10 years in the data security space. With over four hundred customers and nine hundred thousand terabytes transferred, PacGenesis truly stands out as a Trusted Advisor in the digital file movement and security space. To learn more about PacGenesis, follow @PacGenesis on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or go to www.pacgenesis.com.
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