Illegal downloading still common
June 22, 2009
Eight per cent of consumers across the UK, France, Germany and the USA admitted to downloading video content illegally from file sharing websites, a consumer research study by Futuresource Consulting reveals.
The study, 'Living With Digital: Consumer Insights into Entertainment Consumption', used a representative sample in each country and provided respondents with a list of legal and illegitimate download sites from which to select. When focusing solely on the downloader segment, the study revealed that 15 per cent of all downloaders admitted to acquiring video content illegally, with France topping the charts at 25 per cent. This widespread availability of illicit content presents a major obstacle to the development of online content services, and continues to heavily impact upon revenues, despite governments' and industry authorities' renewed attempts to tighten up the system.