Eight percent of consumers in the UK, France, Germany and the U.S. have admitted to downloading content illegally from file sharing websites, according to a new study by Futuresource Consulting.
When looking only at the downloader segment, the study found that 15 percent of all downloaders admitted to obtaining video content illegally, with France taking the lead at 25 percent.
Users in the UK and U.S. watch the most online video on a PC or a laptop. “When we asked respondents whether they ever watch TV, movies and video on their PC or laptop, two thirds of people in the UK replied either ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’, with consumers in the US not far behind,” said Alison Casey, Head of Global Content at Futuresource.
“But when we asked people if they connected a laptop directly into a TV to watch video from the Internet, the results were inverted, with Germany leading the field, closely followed by France. And those who have never connected a laptop to a TV, many didn’t know how to or had never thought about doing it.”
In all of the territories surveyed, of those who watched downloaded video content online about 90 percent have never paid for news content or recently-missed TV shows, gradually shifting down to just over half that have never paid to watch new movies.
However, the survey showed that among those who have never paid, more than half answered “yes” or “maybe” when asked if they would be willing to pay in the future. All respondents were also likely to pay or pay more often if they were offered online content in HD or if they could keep the downloaded content.
“As content consumption continues to grow rapidly across the globe, driven by technological enhancements and content industry support, key to its long term success will be the development of strong consumer propositions and business models that resonate with the target audience across all platforms,” said Casey.
