Netlfix Has Apparently Reduced Piracy In Australia

It seems the arrival of Netflix has made pirating movies and TV shows less appealing to Australians, according to research by consumer advocacy group, Choice.

Netflix picture from Shutterstock

The group surveyed over 1,000 Australians and found the number of people illegally downloading film and TV shows has dipped by a quarter, from 23 per cent to 17 per cent. Overall, the rate of piracy has dropped from 33 per cent to 30 per cent. Legal subscription and pay per view content services has surged from 46 per cent to 59 per cent.

“The fact is the number of people regularly pirating in Australia has dropped by a quarter since Netflix launched,” Erin Turner, Choice campaigns manager, said in a statement. “This proves once again that making content affordable and easily available is the first and most effective tactic to reduce piracy – not a draconian internet filter and notice scheme.”

Sure, the arrival of legal content services like Netflix, Stan and Presto may have contributed to lowered figures, but there are also other factors at play here. The Dallas Buyers club copyright court case has spooked a lot of people, making them think twice about illegally downloading content.

The credibility of respondents should be considered as well. How many people would admit to being pirates when being cold-called for a survey? Would you?

Either way, it’s good to see competition heating up between content service providers. This means they’ll fight to make more quality content available in Australia and may even lower the prices of their services, which is welcomed news for consumers.