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Study Finds Pervasive Movie File Sharing

Geoff Duncan
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A new research study from the Solutions Research Group (PDF) finds that American consumers really are starting to watch movies that they rip from DVDs or download to their PCs.

According to the report, some 32 million Americans aged 12 and over have downloaded a ful-length movie at some point in the past—that’s 18 percent of the U.S. online population. Of those, some 20 million are regular downloaders, having pulled down a movie in the last month. Among movie downloaders, the study claims that some 80 percent get content exclusively from file-sharing sites and P2P networks.

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“There is a Robin Hood effect,” commented Kaan Yigit, Study Director, in a statement. “Most people perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already and as a result don’t think of movie downloading as a big deal.”

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The study claims that only 40 percent of respondents believe downloading copyrighted movies from the Internet is a serious offense, compared to some 78 percent who believe taking a DVD from a story without paying for it would be a serious offense.

The study also offered a profile of movie-download users: 56 percent of study respondents watched a DVD on a PC at some point, while 29 percent viewed a DVD on a PC within the last month. Some 25 percent of respondents have watched a streaming television program on their PCs. The study also found that the “typical” movie downloader is 29 years of age, and has 16 titles stored on their computer. Some 63 percent of movie downloaders are male, while 37 percent are female.

Yigit added: “The current crop of ‘download to own’ movie services and the new ones coming into the market will need to offer greater flexibility of use, selection and low prices to convert the current users to their services—otherwise file-sharing will continue to thrive.”

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Geoff Duncan
Geoff Duncan
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…
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