If the late ’90s and early 2000s saw pirated movie copies in the form of CDs and DVDs being commonplace, online is the medium of choice for piracy today. There are several reasons cited for the uncontrolled proliferation of piracy. One of them is the high cost of accessing authorised content.
The growth of OTT platforms has helped overcome that to some extent with attractive subscription offers and bundled services. At the same time, piracy thrives through social messaging apps like Telegram, spreading content like never before. These are the hypotheses we put forth to stakeholders.
Some believe that penetration of OTT platforms has helped in bringing down piracy, at least in the metros.
Siva S, CEO of Malayalam OTT platform Mainstream, notes that the increasing adoption of OTT subscription services has considerably reduced market piracy.
“Consumers now have legal access to a massive library of films, series, and other content thanks to the advent of affordable and simple streaming services. OTT platforms provide a diverse selection of high-quality content, including exclusive movie releases and compelling shows, motivating consumers to subscribe rather than resort to piracy. OTT also provides a streamlined and user-friendly experience, allowing users to access their favorite material whenever and wherever they choose, across many devices,” he adds.
Siva underlines that OTT subscriptions have played a critical role in reducing illegal downloads and streaming by becoming a compelling alternative, eventually helping content creators, distributors and the industry.
Karan Taurani, SVP, Elara Capital shares the view. “The adoption of OTT definitely has helped in reducing piracy. We have moved from a browser to an app ecosystem right now. The consumers don’t want to own content, they want to stream the content, watch it and leave it over there compared to the earlier days where they wanted to download the content,” notes Taurani.
According to him, the download of movies has decreased and 90 pc of the consumption of digital video is through streaming – that’s primarily because of the data prices being phenomenally low, he reasons.
“Piracy has been dealt a significant blow with the popularity of OTT platforms coming up with quick releases within a month of the release of a film,” observes Rajeev Balakrishnan, CEO, Image Advantage Consultants.
“However there is still a section of the society which wishes to see the films the same day or very next day of the release but without having to spend on a ticket and they take to downloading from sites such as Tamilrockerz and others,” he adds.
Are messaging apps (like Telegram) a big driver of piracy today? Is it more pronounced in smaller cities / towns?
Film producer G Dhananjayan doesn’t agree with the notion that OTT has helped curb piracy..
“Not at all. Earlier it was browser-based or online piracy, now it has completely moved to social media apps like Telegram. Particularly when an OTT platform is streaming a new movie, immediately the movie is available on these platforms with high quality. Pirated copies have moved from low quality to high quality content of late. Basically the problem of piracy is untouched and the quality of the movies have gone up,” he notes.
“There is no way to tackle the issue as the technology is moving at a fast pace. I was recently in the USA and was studying about the piracy issues. Apple TV was offering home premiering of content. They put a stop to the whole initiative because Telegram immediately picks up the content from there and starts distributing the content for free. Controlling the piracy issue in India is going to be a very challenging task,” he adds.
Because of social media apps like Telegram, piracy is still very much relevant, notes Taurani.
“This trend is more pronounced in smaller cities and towns because in larger cities people are open to pay for the content – they want to watch HD quality content on the connected TV. Since people are used to paying subscriptions in the metro cities, the rate of piracy has come down when compared to smaller cities,” says Taurani.
He also cites another reason for the decrease in the piracy rate.
“Piracy has also come down because we have YouTube as a channel now, which has scaled up massively. Lot of content for which people are not comfortable paying is available on YouTube through ad-supported streaming models,” Taurani adds.
“Messaging apps like Telegram have accentuated not just piracy but many nefarious activities that cannot be tracked including phishing and hacking of bank accounts. The numbers sharing pirated films through illegal means in smaller towns is definitely something which one cannot erase completely. It is an occupational hazard,” surmises Balakrishnan.
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