South Africa: More than half broadband users pirates

A survey on online piracy conducted by specialist South African website MyBroadband among its readers has revealed how widespread piracy is, and what sort of content people pirate.

According to the survey, 58 per cent of tech-savvy broadband users in South Africa have pirated content over the last 12 months.

The survey was completed by 5,230 broadband users in South Africa. Those surveyed were typically tech-savvy consumers with a good knowledge of the Internet and broadband services.

The breakdown of broadband connections of users who completed this survey are as follows:

• ADSL – 63 per cent
• Mobile broadband – 30 per cent
• Wireless broadband – 4 per cent
• Other – 3 per cent

The survey results revealed that 58 per cent of respondents have pirated copyrighted movies, TV series, music, software or games over the last 12 months.

The most popular content to pirate was TV Series, followed by movies, music, software and games. Answers for the question “What type of content do you pirate?” brought the following responses:

• TV Series – 80 per cent
• Movies – 70 per cent
• Music – 53 per cent
• Software – 38 per cent
• Games – 28 per cent
• Other – 6 per cent

The majority of people who pirated ‘other’ content indicated that they download e-books.

The survey results also showed that the majority of people in South Africa pirate movies, TV series and music because the content is not available in South Africa, the wait for it to arrive there is too long, and for convenience.

People further indicated their decision to pirate content was fuelled by limited and expensive TV services in SA, frustrating advertising in shows and movies, and to catch up on content (like TV shows) they have missed.

The reasons cited for pirating material were:

• Not available in South Africa – 61 per cent
• Have to wait too long for it to come to South Africa – 59 per cent
• Convenience – 59 per cent
• Legal version too expensive – 39 per cent
• To save money – 30 per cent
• To bypass restrictions on legal content – 16 per cent
• Other – 9 per cent
• I pirate on principle – 7 per cent