Broadband Genie: Streaming exclusivity could drive piracy

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Broadband Genie, a UK-based consumer research group, conducted a survey of 1,500 visitors to its site, “to discover how people felt about the splintering of streaming services, and whether they might turn to piracy.” 30% of survey respondants said they want content on services they don’t have, and 37% said they would consider illegal channels in order to access it.

Read the entire Broadband Genie report

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Why this matters

There has been a fair amount of research about the number of OTT services a consumer will take, and some speculation about risk that the rise of ‘Super OTT aggregator’ services could prompt consumers to resort to piracy.

Or, in a consumer’s mind, “I take Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime, but the show I want is on another service. Do I really want to subscribe to that other service, just to get that other show?” And the problem will get worse as Disney+, Apple TV+, AT&T and other new super aggregators are launche.

Here is an objective survey that says the biggest driver is cost, followed by the inconvenience of having to use multiple apps to access the programming they want.

Repeating the opinion I’ve stated my opinion elsewhere, video content rights-holders and aggregators need to re-evaluate their service models and loosen up on exclusivity. Why not replicate the models used in pay-per-view TV or for per-title and series rentals via iTunes or Amazon Prime?

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