Illegal Downloads Popular within NZ Youths
A new survey by Colmar Brunton has shown that a large proportion of NZ youths (16 – 29 year olds) stream and download movies and television shows illegally off the internet. Almost half of those surveyed had apparently streamed television movies, and a third of them had pirated movies.
Spencer Willis, head of Qual and Youth Specialist at Colmar Brunton, says while more than 50% of those surveyed use traditional sources for watching TV (free to air TV 77%, pay TV 50%), accessing TV programmes online is common place for most.
“The survey tells us the 69% watch TV on demand but the next most popular online TV sources are unauthorised streaming and downloading.”
A significant 44% of those surveyed admit to unauthorised streaming, with 15% citing this as their main source of TV programmes. More than a quarter (27%) are into unauthorised downloading of TV programmes.
Since most of the young youth are just getting into the workforce and are just making a few bucks here and there, they cannot afford to spend it on pricey entertainment where they can get it online for free.
You see, kids are actually pretty savvy. If they want something, they will get it. Even if that means bypassing some laws.
“Authorised streaming (11%) and downloading (10%) are far less popular which shows that many of our young New Zealanders are bypassing the likes of iTunes in favour of less legitimate sources,” Willis says.
Another potential reason why NZ Youths are probably not paying for these types of entertainment, is because of their hefty prices. I mean, $20-30 to buy a DVD at the supermaket? Come on… Buying a DVD on iTunes is also around $25 or $24.99!
Let us not forget the music industry…
The survey says YouTube is a popular source for listening to music with 87% of those surveyed saying they use it, followed by their personal music collections (81%).
And then…
Spotify has also made an impact with 43% of young Kiwis surveyed using that source.
You see? You make a service like Spotify readily available to NZ and at a reasonable price and people will actually buy a subscription and take you seriously!
