Piracy to shift from downloads to streaming content

Although videos distributed via peer-to-peer file sharing networks is focused on downloaded content, piracy is going to shift from downloads to streaming content in 2009.

"The video industry has yet to feel the heat of video piracy because, frankly, it’s just too much of a pain to pirate video," said James McQuivey, Forrester Research Vice President and Principal Analyst.

Just 10 percent of online adults in the United States have downloaded videos through P2P networks.  Why the small percentage?  It’s because users must have large amounts of storage, high bandwidth, and actually need to have basic knowledge of how to use the network.  "It’s inconvenient.

Streaming piracy allows viewers to watch copyrighted content immediately without the need of installing a program to download and play the content.  As an example, McQuivey points out he used Megavideo.com to watch the first few minutes of Madagascar 2, though he didn’t watch the entire film due to personal ethics.

The industry needs to make legitimate viewing a reality users are willing to adopt in the future.  McQuivey’s report ended with the following statement:

"Crushing illegal streaming will be even harder than crushing P2P sites. We don’t recommend that the industry give up, however. Instead, we think automated content identification systems from companies like auditude and Vobile, Inc. do an increasingly reliable job of finding infringing content, making it easier for studios and broadcasters to respond quickly to pirated streams around the world. However, erecting barriers to piracy is only one half of the equation. While they make it hard for the people who sponsor piracy, the best long-term solution is one in which consumers’ fundamental desire for easy access to top content is satiated through legal means."

The TV networks understand the current evolution that is taking place, which is one of the reasons many sites now allow viewers to stream episodes of popular TV shows for free.  It will prove to be interesting to see how Hollywood handles this latest shift in piracy.