The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) published its 2024 annual piracy consumer survey. While piracy via pirate TV boxes, pirate apps and streaming or torrent websites decreased in comparison with 2023, the survey showed an increase in the incidence of piracy across the region overall.
In the Philippines, the rate of piracy incidents was 70%, and even higher in Vietnam at 71%. The survey found that piracy incidents in those countries increased by 12% and 13% respectively, year over year. Countries with the lowest increases in piracy rates were Singapore and Taiwan. The overall rate of piracy in Malaysia was actually down, by 1%.
Video programming from outside the APAC region was most popular. VPN usage to access that content remained the same as in 2023, at 3%.
Social media and messaging
Social media was by far the most widely used channel for piracy distribution, and increased overall from 49% in 2021, to 52% in 2023, and to 59% in 2024; mainly due to increased piracy on social media and messaging platforms.
In some countries, social media was measured at rates as high as six times that of piracy Web sites, apps or torrent sites. The report also ranked, by country, which social media services were used the most to access infringing sources.
Meanwhile, consumption via pirated content through websites was down by 2% (to 13%), down 4% (to 11%) by pirate TV boxes, and down 1% (to 10%) compared with the year prior.
AVIA CAP is continuing to work with the major platforms across the region to address this issue but remains concerned with the lack of response from some platforms, notably Telegram.
Awareness is high, blocking has been effective
Awareness of the negative consequences of piracy (89%) remains extremely high across the region, with consumers being most aware of criminals profiting from pirate services, the risks of malware and the damage piracy causes to local industry being most prominent.
The impact of judicial or administrative orders requiring ISPs to block access to pirate sites is clear, with Indonesian (59%), Vietnamese (54%), Malaysian (42%) and Singaporean (28%) consumers saying they have either stopped entirely or rarely access pirate sites as a direct result of sites being blocked.
Other morsels in the research
The percentage of consumers who would be willing to pay for video services if there were no piracy sources increased by 5%, from 69% to 74%
While many assume that piracy is mainly a male-driven phenomenon – and in the APAC region, it was; in 2022 and 2023 – 60% of female consumers surveyed admitted using pirate sources, compared with 59% of the men.
60% of piracy consumers worked full time, while just 39% of them were retired. 54% were unemployed.
Methodology
The survey was conducted online by YouGov between 1st to 7th February 2024. Research was conducted in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The sample size was 10,123 people across all 8 Markets.
Further reading
2024 CAP consumer survey shows increase in piracy on social media and messaging platforms in Asia Pacific. Press release. May 2, 2024. The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) Coalition Against Piracy (CAP)
Why it matters
“(AVIA CAP) is greatly encouraged by the continuing downward trend of consumers accessing pirate content from illegal websites, which reflects the work done over many years in the region by industry and governments,” said Matt Cheetham, General Manager of CAP. “However, it is clear that social media and messaging platforms must do more to prevent their services being used to find and access pirate content.”
The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) is the trade association for the video industry and ecosystem in Asia Pacific. It serves to make the video industry stronger and healthier through promoting the common interests of its members. AVIA is the interlocutor for the industry with governments across the region, leads the fight against video piracy through its Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) and provides insight into the video industry through reports and conferences aimed to support a vibrant video industry.
