Survey says 49% of Pinoys using illegal video streaming

A new study of the online content viewing behavior of Filipino consumers has found that 49% access streaming piracy websites or torrent sites. The levels of piracy went as high as 53% within the 25-34 age demographic.

The survey, commissioned by the Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) and conducted by YouGov, found that 47% of consumers who accessed piracy sites cancelled their subscriptions to both local and international content services.

The levels of piracy in the Philippines now dwarfs neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia which have both seen substantial reductions in online piracy over the last 12 months. In both countries, a key variable for the decline in online piracy levels was the government’s pro-active piracy site blocking initiative.

The recent YouGov survey suggests that a regulatory site blocking mechanism would be supported by the majority of Filipino consumers. When given choices of what they thought were effective measures of reducing piracy behavior, 53% of Filipinos agree that a “government order or law for ISPs to block piracy websites” would be the most effective.

When asked about the negative consequences of online piracy, Filipino consumers placed funding crime groups (55%), loss of jobs in the creative industry (50%) and malware risks (49%) as their top three concerns.

A bill filed in the Senate titled “Online Infringement Act” proposes a regulatory site blocking mechanism which would empower the authorities to ensure that ISPs take “reasonable steps to disable access to sites whenever these sites are reported to be infringing copyright or facilitating copyright infringement.”

Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) deputy director general Teodoro Pascua said, “The wide variety of legal services in the Philippines which provide premium entertainment content are reliable and importantly are legal. The piracy alternatives fund crime groups put consumers at risk of malware infection and are unreliable. Piracy only benefits the criminal organizations who are behind these illegal websites.”

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Source: Newsbytes Philippines