Video Piracy in Australia: Analysis and Strategies

This report examines the issue of video piracy in Australia, highlighting its detrimental effects on the media industry. The report begins by illustrating the widespread nature of piracy, referencing the high per capita rate in Australia and the impact on revenue, particularly for movies. The report also delves into the legal and technological measures taken to combat piracy. Specifically, the report discusses a five-step solution developed by Village Roadshow and the availability of various streaming services. The report also references the importance of community engagement and the role of free-to-air channels. Overall, the report offers a comprehensive overview of the challenges and responses related to video piracy in Australia, providing valuable insights into the dynamics of the media landscape and its efforts to address the issue.

Running head: VIDEO PIRACY
Video Piracy
Student’s Name:
University Name:
Author note

Video Piracy in Australia
Video Piracy has been an issue of major concern globally. Video piracy has greatly
affected Australia. The rate of piracy in Australia has increased at a very high per capita rate.
Even United States of America has been left out in the race by Australia such is the condition of
piracy there. A movie pirated online negatively affects a large sector of business related to this
industry. Starting from the actors that get paid for their performance in a certain movie till the
distributors or movie theatre owners who advertise and the movie lose out on their hard earned
money due to a single act of piracy. Video piracy is not only a crime but also lowers the quality
of the video, thus lowering the audience count for that particular video or movie as the case may
be. Brand new movies like Mad Max: Fury Road has been pirated and downloaded illegally as
many times as 3.5 million times in Australia (Phau and Liang 2012). A solution to this issue has
been developed by Village Roadshow which essentially has five steps in total including the
legislation that allows blocking illegal sites, improving the already existing relationship with
Google, extending the legal availability of more content, taking initiatives in order to punish the
serial offenders with legal prosecution, establishing community support. The consumers in
Australia is now presented with a huge number of choices of service providers like Foxtel Play,
Amazon Prime Video and Stan that charge different rates for monthly services or unending
content. In order to grab the attention of a particular individual even free-to-air channels are also
provided. In spite of more than one company present, communal experience is also required
(McCrea, 2013).

References
McCrea, C., 2013. Australian Video Games: The Collapse and Reconstruction of an Industry. In
Gaming Globally (pp. 203-207). Palgrave Macmillan US.
Phau, I. and Liang, J., 2012. Downloading digital video games: predictors, moderators and
consequences. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 30(7), pp.740-756.