The ongoing struggle between paid and free content

The online streaming services popularity is growing year by year. And this is understandable, because what could be more convenient than a cinema on your own sofa? Or watch your favorite Albanian tv channels abroad in your own language with no change in your everyday tv shqip routine.

But this popularity also has a downside - a constant fight against illegal content.

No matter how active the fight against online piracy is, it is extremely difficult to get rid of it. Video streaming platforms are particularly affected by this. Why is legal content good not only for copyright holders, but also for users?

The fight against content theft is becoming more global and diverse. If a few years ago they tried to fight against illegal content consumption by punishing online viewers, sending them letters, issuing fines and “cutting off” the Internet, then the follow the money approach came into play. This is the successful path of recent years. Perhaps this is through cooperation with payment systems (payment blocking) and recommending advertisers and payment systems to stay away from violating sites.

There is also an opinion among copyright holders that VPN services contribute to piracy. Not only copyright holders are dissatisfied with the activities of VPN providers, but also legal video streaming platforms for the delivery of video content. The claims are that VPNs allow users to bypass regional restrictions, with some of the providers promoting this feature as a main feature of their service.

The fight against illegal content is gaining momentum every year, although pirates do not give up easily either. At the same time, not only distributors, but also end users of content fall under the legal blow.

So, in some European countries for a subscription to pirated Internet cinemas and IPTV services you can get not only a fine, but even a prison term. There are also nationwide advertising campaigns to make consumers aware that viewing illegal content is tantamount to theft and completely illegal.

Another danger for consumers of illegal video is the spread of malware that is downloaded simultaneously with the video content, i.e. Initially infected files that can harm the device up to failure.

So why is illegal content still used?

Naturally, because it is free, and besides, it is still easily accessible. Plus, the media libraries of pirated resources (and this is another real advantage) are often much more extensive than those of legal media platforms.

The most popular way to get illegal content is to download files. The leading positions in terms of volumes of pirated content are occupied by torrent sites, followed by hosting and streaming services. And the most popular content is TV series.

Obviously, at the same time, malware was most often downloaded along with the series “Game of Thrones”, “The Walking Dead” and “Arrow”. As a rule, the first and last episodes of each season turned out to be infected, but the very first episode called “Winter Is Coming” was the most popular among cybercriminals.

And yet the struggle for justice is on the path of success. According to the EUIPO survey (EUIPO Report "2019 Intellectual Property and Youth Scoreboard"), 51% of European youth have never downloaded pirated content at all. Three years ago there were only 40% of such young people. The survey was conducted among young people aged 15 to 24 in 28 EU countries.

The number of users is increasing every year, especially among young people who prefer paid monthly subscriptions.

The viewer chooses what is available, comfortable or familiar. Paid streaming services offer their user functional and intuitive players, convenient applications for SmartTV, multi-user accounts and family subscriptions. And of course, a personalized content recommendation system.

First published on vocal.media