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Avast! Sharp Responses to Piracy Starting to Find Their Target

TMCnet Feature

June 25, 2013

Avast! Sharp Responses to Piracy Starting to Find Their Target

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By Blaise McNamee
Web Editor

It comes as no surprise that Game of Thrones, the wildly popular HBO epic, has been crowned the most pirated television show of the spring season (for a second year in a row). Using data collected from public BitTorrent (News - Alert) trackers, among other sources, TorrentFreak estimates that, on average, each episode was downloaded 5,200,000 times, nearly matching the average number of actual US television viewers of 5,500,000. In fact, the season finale alone set a new BitTorrent record, with more than 170,000 people seeding the episode at a single time. Within 24 hours, the episode was downloaded more than a million times. 


Note that these numbers don’t account for illegal streaming services, private trackers, cyberlocker, direct download sites, or unauthorized HBO GO access. It is likely, then, that more people watch Game of Thrones through a pirated source than in front of their own TV.

However, it seems the crown doesn’t weigh so heavy after all. Game of Throne’s director David Petraca recently implied that such record high piracy statistics are actually a good thing. Speaking at the University of Western Australia, Petraca said that the “cultural buzz” generated by pirates eventually leads more people to buy HBO subscriptions. Moreover, the social commentary generated by widespread consumption of the show, illegal or otherwise, keeps the series on the pop culture center stage.

"That's how they survive," he said.

This point is not lost on other media giants. Major studios are increasingly viewing piracy as a useful indicator of what consumers want. In an Anti-Piracy & Content Protection Summit Q&A, David Kaplan, chief of anti-piracy operations at Warner Bros. explained that the company now views piracy as a proxy for consumer demand, and their IP enforcement efforts have shifted to take advantage of this insight. 

“Accordingly, enforcement-related efforts are balanced with looking at ways to adjust or develop business models to take advantage of that demand by offering fans what they are looking for when they are looking for it,” Kaplan said.

It seems Warner Bros. is attempting to roll with the piracy punches, rather than fight a hopeless war of attrition. Incapable of stemming a technological and cultural tide, the company is finally showing a concerted effort to adapt to the realities of the changing market and take advantage of new business models. 

“I think our top priority would be to remove the financial incentives from those who would profit by building businesses based on the unauthorized exploitation of our intellectual property. A close second would be educating consumers about the importance of IP protection and the availability of legitimate alternatives to piracy.” Kaplan added.

Some of these new models are already beginning to take shape. Sony and Disney (News - Alert) have recently begun to experiment with renting out movies still playing in theaters via on-demand streaming services. Currently being tested in South Korea, consumers now have the option to view the latest release right from their home, via the Internet, cable, or satellite TV. Having been met with some industry opposition in the past, the two studios have decided to test the programs slowly and in non-major markets to gauge response. If this type of offering helps to effectively curb piracy, the other major Hollywood studios may soon jump on the bandwagon.

The same can be said for the software industry, where piracy is just as rampant. In his own question and answer session for the Anti-Piracy & Content Protection Summit, Richard Atkinson, Adobe’s (News - Alert) corporate director of worldwide anti-piracy, notes that “The strategy and concept of moving from traditional ‘enforcement-led antipiracy’ to a ‘business-focused pirate-to-pay conversion program’ is a BIG change, needing changes to operational elements as well as cultural elements.”

Atkinson boasts an overhauled approach to piracy for Adobe, having “built a new program, new strategy, new team, and new sets of beliefs and understanding across the broad expanse of Adobe.”

It is this understanding that Atkinson believes is the key to future anti-piracy efforts. Having the correct facts about piracy and understanding the ‘why’ behind it all goes much further toward curbing piracy than any technological solution, according to Atkinson, suggesting that Adobe is shifting its overall approach to the issue.

“Everyone is tired of the entire concept and term ‘Anti-Piracy’, even the term ‘Content Protection’ too. It feels like an ongoing war that has been going on for 20+ years... with the same old good-guy vs. bad-guy battles... and it always being some AP manager’s job versus it belonging to the business. This is one of the BIG changes I drive. Piracy = business-created problem is a business-led solution & opportunity,” he said.

It appears that companies are finally beginning to make noticeable shifts in their anti-piracy philosophies. Moving from an ideology of loss to one of opportunity is a welcome change that pirates and non-pirates alike will certainly welcome. If studios and software manufacturers continue to adjust their business models to meet evolving consumer need in this way, we may see many an Internet-faring deckhand return to shore.




Edited by Rory J. Thompson


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