We’ll look at how piracy affects the economy, customer experience, brand image, and society and why content owners cannot afford to lose the war against online piracy.
Why is Online Piracy an Issue?
Online piracy is an issue in every business that sells original material, including cinema, television, music, publishing, software, and others. There are hundreds of unlawful streaming sites where users may download pirated movies, songs, books, and various other unique types of information. If a firm holds the intellectual property and sells original material, it’s likely being stolen and reproduced someplace online.
While some claim that digital piracy might help with word-of-mouth marketing, several studies have found that the adverse effects far outweigh the rewards. The impact of internet piracy is not just economic, but it also has a high social cost for everyone involved in these businesses.
Digital piracy is an issue that must be addressed at all levels to safeguard whole industries and individual creators, and corporate employees.
The Impact of Piracy on the Economy
The economic impact of piracy is massive. In the past, we’d look at a movie release that was pirated and calculate the economic impact on cinema ticket sales, DVD sales, and TV licensing rights. However, in this digital age, the impact is far more significant.
A famous movie can easily be downloaded and distributed at no charge by a group of people willing to host it on their server. Once the movie has been downloaded, tens of thousands of people can be sharing it simultaneously. This can spill over into every other industry that contributes to the economy.
Compromising Consumer Experience
Although many people believe that digital piracy is somehow helping them, in most cases, it’s compromising their consumer experience. The very thing that’s supposed to help them find the entertainment they like better is the same thing causing them the most harm. If consumers are only experiencing the pirated content, they aren’t getting the quality that the original creators and brands intended.
Every industry that creates unique content eventually suffers once that content is stolen and shared online. No matter how hard companies work to fight online piracy, new forms of theft are created every day.
If consumers are only using pirated content, they will inevitably be comparing it to the original, and they’ll be left with a poor experience. It’s a battle that continues to be fought by content creators to protect their brand image and the entire industry as a whole.
What’s In Store For the Future
In the coming years, content creators must balance digital piracy and digital rights management, or DRM. Users will never stop pirating, but this doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to offer them premium quality content that doesn’t compromise the experience.
This technology already exists in the form of digital rights management. Why not sell them the premium package for a reasonable price, with the promise of a high-quality experience and access to the entire content library? Instead of focusing on copy-protection, entertainment companies should focus on providing a quality experience for their customers, ultimately reducing the amount of pirated content.
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