What A Surprise!!

Over 1/3 of Film Industry Professionals are Pirates

A recent survey among movie industry professionals revealed that about 40% of them have downloaded films and TV shows illegally. There have been lots of surveys covering piracy-related issues in recent years. However, they usually fail to mention that many people who obtain files for free also cheerfully pay for content as well. Now some studies have revealed that the entertainment industry’s best customers are also engaged in illegal downloads.

In fact, some of those pirates appeared to be the very people who help to create films and TV shows. The recent research of 1,235 movie industry professionals, where the respondents were people from one of the 3 major films markets, included a few new questions.

The first set of questions focused on whether the movie experts felt that piracy had affected their business. Surprisingly enough, 53% of all respondents said that piracy had either no effect or a positive effect on their business. The respondents belonged to all sectors of the industry, including development, production, sales and distribution. The respondents in sales and distribution admitted they were most worried by piracy.

There also was an anonymous additional statement “I have illegally downloaded a TV show or feature film”, and 39% of people agreed with that additional statement. People working on lower budgets were more likely to have illegally downloaded content than respondents working on big budgets. Only 2% of people working on movies over $10 million admitted to illegally downloading a movie or TV show, on the contrary to 65% of respondents working on movies under $1 million.

The percentage of people who admitted illegal downloading also fluctuated according to industry sector: for example, 55% of respondents in marketing said they have infringed content versus 0% percent in exhibition (movie theaters). Professionals from sales and distribution, who said they had been most affected by piracy, saw the lowest piracy “confession” rate of 28%. These people are mediators behind the scenes of the industry who negotiate the rights between producers and cinemas or retailers, and they have the largest vested interest in stopping piracy, because they don’t have many other reasons for doing what they do and no other source of income.