Ryan Haynes / Android Authority
Digital piracy has been a thing of the past for almost as long as the Internet has been a super-easy way to get unauthorized copies of music, movies, TV shows and games.
Our own C Scott Brown recently wrote an opinion, outlining why digital piracy might exist in the modern age. He asks if he has posted a survey Android authority Readers pirated any content this year. Here’s how you voted for that poll.
Did you pirate any content in 2022?
The result
Are you really surprised by these results? Out of more than 1,400 votes, 83.69% of surveyed readers said they were actually pirated content in 2022.
At least one reader mentioned in the comments that when they pay for some of the streaming services that pay the highest price, they would rather pirate content that is not available through these platforms. This is understandable, since there are so many streaming services available at the moment and it is not financially feasible for many people to pay for them.
Read more: The best video streaming service worth your time and money
Another reader feels that taking legal paths sometimes provides a lesser experience, such as streaming problems and an inconsistent user interface. But hopefully Plex’s solution as a one-stop hub for streaming services will help.
Only 8.7% of respondents said they did not pirate content in 2022, while 7.6% said they did not know. Either way, it’s clear that piracy is certainly the norm among polled readers.
Comments
- DisqusSuqs: Gabe Newell The thing is where I am. Although there will always be pirates (people legally pirate free content), there are willing to pay millions. It is true that piracy is often not the same for free but provides an actively higher experience than paying. Legitimate customers willing to pay for 5 services still have to navigate through numerous interfaces, tracking which shows have new episodes and where, which app has released new content, which app has the title they want to see, inconsistencies in the basic app. Features, if they live in a country then the content is published, etc.
- Nerdelbaum Frink: I pay for Netflix, Disney + and Amazon prime. Anything else I want to see that is not in them gets pirated, and I only have prime because of prime shipping, so once it has surpassed its advantages (which is probably now or a price increase away), it is also being dropped. I have no morality with the pirating thing because of the greed of the shareholders. Especially sports. I would never pay for a streaming service for sports because sports organizations (looking at you in the NFL) clearly don’t want to offer a quality product.
- Technogro: Pirates have always been here to stay because there have always been (and always will be) people who don’t want to pay for things.
- Curse: When it comes to all new streaming services? All right, they’re cutting off the branches they’re sitting on. Most of them make a deal with one of the 3-4 big services and it would be nice to have them there I have no problem paying for some of the services. 2-3 for video, one for music and so on. But I wouldn’t pay for 5-6 different video streaming services.
Imagine the top 10 songs spread across Spotify, DJ, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Tidal. Only 2 songs in each, and to listen to the top 10 you need to have a paid subscription in each of the 5. Okay, today’s video streaming is like that.
Not surprisingly, piracy is on the rise.