Content Insider #947 – It’s You
By Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com
“Remember, you know this ship. They don’t. Make them feel like they’re in charge but keep them away from the important things like the generator and the engine controls.” – Captain Richard Phillips, “Captain Phillips,” Columbia Pictures, 2013
Only an idiot – or someone really desperate to make a few bucks – would think it was a good idea to be in a small boat with a bunch of like-minded “friends” and attack a huge freighter in the open ocean.
But they still do as captain Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) and Somali pirate Muse (Barkhad Abdi) showed audiences in Paul Greengrass’ 2013 film Captain Phillips.
O.K., so it didn’t end well for Muse.
But in some areas of the world, it’s still done to the tune of about $25-$37B a year.
We know – you get seasick – but you might take some of that “extra” cargo off their hands, especially if they gave it to you.
Yeah … no harm, no foul.
So why is receiving stolen goods any different than “borrowing” someone’s streaming password or tapping your fave pirate video site for free stuff?
People have been watching the “free” stuff since the first reel was shot!
Not sure why, but we can only guess that the film/show is more enjoyable when it’s free.
But piracy isn’t just focused on your entertainment – TV and movies.
Nope, if something is created, someone will steal it and offer it to someone else at little or no financial cost…until later.
That’s right … there’s no such thing as a free lunch!
And even if they offer that something to you at an unbelievable cost savings, don’t worry they’ll make it up on back end.
Studios, content owners and streamers don’t like to talk/brag about how much piracy costs them on a particular project because that’s money that doesn’t go into their or their shareholders’ pockets.
Or said a different way … they’re doing a crappy job of maximizing our profits!
Back when streaming was in its infancy, Reed Hastings, Netflix co-CEO, co-founder admitted the company new subscribers and friends were password sharing but the tolerance of the practice reflected a more consumer-friendly approach to streaming.
That attitude changed in 2023 when the company rolled out its password-sharing crackdown.
According to their calculation, about 100M folks outside a subscriber’s household were sharing their passwords.
Oh, sure, all of their studio/tech competitors sat on the sidelines to see if their crackdown would succeed or go down in flames.
Viola! they added more than 50M subscribers.
Of course, folks didn’t just mooch passwords from their Netflix friends.
No, they cut their cable connection and asked their richer friends to loan them their passwords so they could enjoy the fresh new stuff they were watching.
According to Bain & Co., an average of one in four streaming service users were borrowing someone else’s paid subscription and Disney+ and Netflix were the most popular services.
So, when the Mouse House saw that clamping down on password sharing worked so well for Netflix they said, “Hey our content is as valuable as his so we’re going to plug the leak as well.”
So, they jumped in with both feet, updating their subscriber agreements for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ by clarifying a household and then they sweetened the pie by offering folks a bundle of services (yeah, all theirs) and…
It didn’t work out as well because they dropped 700K subscribers but expected subscriptions to increase beyond their current 125M worldwide … soon.
More sports will probably help.
And speaking of sports or lack thereof, David Zaslav who “knows” WBD has valuable content, finally got tired of firing folks and reconfiguring his organization. He figured it was time for the company to make a dramatic move.
So, he rolled out a password-sharing crackdown initiative that will take 12-18 months to gain full steam to
“Create another boost of both subscriber and ARPU (average revenue per user) growth.”
Shareholders were so confident, they voted down his “tidy” $51.9M pay package this time around.
The vote is largely symbolic but they’re a little concerned about the company’s $38B debt load and its linear/streaming/studio prospects.
As for Apple TV+ sharing has only been a minor issue and large library of other services – music, podcasts, publications, games, etc.
Amazon? Yeah, it’s an issue; but they show about as much concern over the password borrowers as they do to being arguably the largest piracy enabler today.
The $7T tech giant may be a decent video streamer but its real money is in selling stuff.
You know, like their very popular Fire Stick.
According to folks who know how to do it, it’s relatively easy for developers to sideload apps that enable them to watch billions of dollars’ worth of pirated films/shows as well as rip off stuff from Google, Meta, Microsoft and others.
The jailbroken Fire Sticks are widely available if you search for them on the web.
They’re great … free movies, free sports, free shows and free access to all of your information and bank account.
Again, there’s no such thing as a free lunch!
Yep, plug it in and the hacker says thank you and begins crawling around your system and network looking for open ports to infect and … stuff.
Of course, if you’re in the market for free movies/shows you don’t have to pick up a Fire Stick, you can go directly to one of the pirate sources that have set up their offices on the web.
Pirate services aren’t like Britian’s famed (infamous?) Radio City set up business in 1964 on a long-abandoned sea fort outside territorial limits.
The station and others gave citizens a wide array of music genres and diverse programming they weren’t getting on BBC.
The swashbuckling stations all but disappeared by 1967 with the passage of the Marine & Broadcasting Offences Act and the BBC setting up its own popular music station, giving Brits everything they wanted to listen to.
Of course, the romanticized pirate radio has faded from people’s priorities when pirating video content became a thing.
People wanted more than to simply borrow streaming passwords, they wanted all the “good” stuff.
You know, the movies and shows other services were offering.
In other words, they wanted it all … they wanted it now … they wanted it free.
While people visit pirate sites for more than just movies/shows, it’s still mostly about entertainment — software, music and published materials.
And the neat thing is, they have the darndest reasons why it’s perfectly okay.
In addition, the majority of the theft isn’t done by “them.”
You know, the folks “over there.”
This year, it’s estimated that 230B views of pirated videos (films/shows) will be carried out globally with people in the US grabbing 15B plus views.
They’re followed by people in India, Russia, the UK and Canada.
That’s so cool!
Let’s put it in terms we can all understand.
The content creation/development/production/distribution industry will “lose” about $75B this year and industry analysts project that the loss will grow to $125B by 2028.
That loss translates into the loss of up to 560,000 jobs in the creative content industry because of reduced revenues.
Now that hurts!
And sites like Pirate Bay operate out in the open with relative impunity.
While there is a lot of talk about correcting the situation, the technology and content industries continue to be unwilling to aggressively address/resolve the problem.
Just the global drug problem … just saying no doesn’t seem to work.
Piracy not only significantly damages the industry and people who work at making a living developing video content, it also can be harmful to the person/household accessing the site(s) and watching all the free stuff.
You think the people who run these sites do it for fun and pleasure?
They run businesses …very profitable businesses.
According to research last year by Corsearch in the UK, 3.6M illegal streamers ended up with a wild array of viruses/harmful infections on their devices (computers, tablets, TVs, phones), had their personal data stolen (and used), suffered from fraud and had money stolen from their financial accounts.
The seemingly innocent – and friendly- looking pirate sites let you download the movie/show of your choice at no cost.
Often, they give users free bonuses … malware/viruses that are designed to quickly and effectively borrow your personal data and often take complete control of the device.
The sites are very good at directing users to fake paywalls or misdirect users to locations where they submit their credit card or financial data which is then put to good use.
Other neat tricks include encouraging users to purchase specific VPN services or use residential proxy services that mask malicious traffic.
They enjoy delivering pop-up ads (advertisers unwittingly pay them) as well as unsolicited adult content or a steady array of gambling opportunities.
And just in case you think your security solutions will protect you from all of this, their AI is undoubtedly faster, better and more versatile than your AI because it’s been trained and tested by the best.
Protecting your devices, your personal data, your privacy should be of prime concern to our technology leaders – Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, etc. – but it isn’t as high a priority of developing/selling you new stuff.
Governments could enact more robust laws/penalties, but the officials are usually boomers, not Gen Zers so understanding and dealing with the issues may be a little foreign to them.
More importantly, by the time new laws/regulations are introduced and tech firms roll-out better solutions hackers and pirates have devised new/better ways to tap into your data … and use it.
The best, most effective thing people can do is to obviously get your content from legitimate sources – studios/streamers.
Then implement Zero Trust security and practice what Andy Grove, early visionary leader of Intel, said, “Only the paranoid survive.”
In other words, assume that when you receive an email or text, visit a site or any online activity there is potential for your security having been or going to be breached and act accordingly.
Never automatically trust and always verify.
You don’t have to be anal about your device security … just overly cautious.
You not only enjoy your content, but like Muse in Captain Phillips, the pirate will have to turn to you and say, “It was supposed to be easy. I take ship… ransom… nobody gets hurt.”
Yep … it’s nice to beat the bad guys.
Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 900 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications. Internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise, especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields. Extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media and industry analysts/consultants.