Kantar Media (2015)
From Copyright EVIDENCE
Contents
Source Details
Kantar Media (2015) | |
Title: | Online Copyright Infringement Tracker Wave 5 (Covering period Mar 15 – May 15). Overview and key findings |
Author(s): | Kantar |
Year: | 2015 |
Citation: | Kantar Media (2015). Online Copyright Infringement Tracker Wave 5 (Covering period Mar 15 – May 15). Overview and key findings. |
Link(s): | Definitive , Open Access |
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About the Data | |
Data Description: |
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Data Type: | Primary and Secondary data |
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Cross Country Study?: | No |
Comparative Study?: | No |
Literature review?: | Yes |
Government or policy study?: | Yes |
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Abstract
This report details the main findings of the fifth wave of a large-scale consumer tracking study into the extent of online copyright infringement, as well as wider digital behaviours and attitudes, among people aged 12+ in the UK. The study was commissioned and financially supported by the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO). It is the fifth in a series of research waves intended to generate benchmarks and time series relevant to the access and use of copyright material online. It also outlines the background to the research and a detailed description of the methodology employed.
Main Results of the Study
- Sixty-two per cent of UK internet users aged 12+ consumed at least one item of online content (legally or illegally) over the three-month period March-May 2015. Forty-two per cent had downloaded content, and 57% had streamed or accessed content. The streaming activity has grown significantly from previous waves. This is the highest level of streaming or accessing content online we have seen to date.
- Consumption varied across content types; music (35%) and TV programmes (34%) had the highest levels either downloaded or streamed online in the past three months, followed by films (22%), books (12%), computer software (12%) and video games (12%). The overall consumption level has risen from the previous wave, mainly driven by the growth in the film category.
- Over half (56%) of those who consumed any type of content during the past three months, paid for at least some of it. This remains stable, with no change in paid and free consumption of content from the past wave (W4).
- Just over a quarter (27%) of 12+ UK internet users accessed content entirely for free, this proportion has increased slightly from Wave 4 (25%) but not significantly.
- These increases reflect slightly higher consumption levels during W5 compared to W4, and a stable proportion of 12+ UK internet users consuming a mix of paid and free content (23% in W4 and 24% in W5).
- In terms of those who accessed individual content types, there was a small but significant decrease in the proportion who watched online TV programmes for free from 93% during W4, to 87% in W5. This is driven by an increase in those who paid for all content from 7% in wave 4 to 15% in wave 5.
- 18% (equating to approximately 7.8 million) of UK internet users aged 12+ consumed at least one item of online content illegally over the three-month period March-May 2015. And 6% of the 12+ UK internet users have exclusively consumed illegal content. There have been no significant changes in this proportion since W4.
- Levels of infringement varied significantly by content type; 9% consumed at least some music illegally over the three-month period, while 7% did so for TV programmes and 6% for films. For computer software, video games and ebooks these figures were 2%, 2% and 1%, respectively.
- If instead of looking at ‘all internet users aged 12+’ we use a base of ‘all internet users who consumed content online over the three-month period’, we found that 31% consumed at least one item illegally. Furthermore, 25% of those who consumed film, and 26% of those who consumed music, did so illegally, while the lowest incidence of illegal consumption was among online book consumers (10%).
- The proportion of all internet users aged 12+ who consumed content exclusively legally has decreased slightly for this wave from W4 from 40% in W4 to 39% in W5
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
- The top three factors that infringers said would encourage them to stop included the availability of cheaper legal services (25%), if everything they wanted was available legally (21%), and if it was clearer what is legal and what is not (21%). All factors were mentioned by a higher proportion of those who consumed a mix of legal and illegal content than by those who consumed content exclusively illegally. Only 14% of those who consumed illegal content exclusively stated that nothing would encourage them to stop.
- Fifteen per cent of infringers indicated that they would be put off ‘if my ISP sent me a letter saying they would suspend my internet access’, falling to 11% for ‘if my ISP sent me a letter informing me my account had been used to infringe’, and 10% for ‘if my ISP sent me a letter saying they would restrict my internet speed’.
Coverage of Study
Datasets
Sample size: | 4552 |
Level of aggregation: | Internet user |
Period of material under study: | 2015 |