Netflix and piracy

konfab

konfab

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History has shown that any effort aimed at eradicating piracy via brute force is destined to fail. Arguably, the only way to truly stem piracy is to, quite simply, embrace the notion that piracy exists and subsequently do everything in your power to deliver a product or service that’s fundamentally more appealing than scouring the depths of BitTorrent.

Apple successfully implemented this strategy when it introduced the iTunes Music Store, instantly making the digital download experience a much safer and simpler endeavor than acquiring music through illicit means.

In a similar vein, the way that Netflix sets up its pricing structure across different territories is quite brilliant. In setting up its pricing tiers in a specific country, Netflix takes into account the popularity of piracy within that region. Understanding that destroying piracy is an endless and perhaps fruitless battle (just look at the recent Game of Thrones leak, for example), Netflix instead views piracy as normal competition and adjusts its monthly price point accordingly.

During Netflix’s recent earnings conference call, Torrent Freak highlighted some choice remarks made by company CFO David Wells.

Wells articulated that piracy is a governing determinant in setting “our price in high piracy markets outside the U.S.”

In such countries with high piracy rates, Wells intimated that Netflix has to come in with a more affordable price point in order to compete and attract new users.

And so far, Netflix’s strategy, both on the pricing and content side of the equation, seems to be working exceedingly well.

Not only is Netflix doing well in countries with traditionally high piracy rates, its subscriber rate continues to trend upwards dramatically. As we reported last week, Netflix in the last quarter alone added 4.9 million new subscribers, a figure which is 20% higher than Wall Street analysts were expecting.

As a final point of interest, and going back to Netflix astutely using piracy to its advantage, Netflix executives have previously indicated that they’ll look at some of the more popular pirated shows in order to get a better grasp on which shows are worth purchasing and bringing into the Netflix umbrella.
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http://bgr.com/2015/04/20/netflix-subscription-cost-piracy/

This is the type of thinking that is needed to combat piracy. DSTV are not going to know what hits them when Netflix lands.
 
I just like that they are looking at what shows are popular for downloaders.

SciFi does extremely well when it comes to piracy, but they don't get made as they don't do as well on official channels.
 
Yeah, except one hardly has to scour the depths of BitTorrent to pirate stuff. The only real danger in torrents is the very slim chance you'll get caught and prosecuted.
 
So the more people pirate in SA the cheaper the service will be when it lands?

Have at it boys! :)
 
Nick333 said:
Do we know what the local version will cost and what will be available? This is SA, chances are Netflix SA will be shyt.
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I'm not sure it will be. Sure, DSTV will spend billions to get the "rights" to the latest shows but latest and greatest isnt Netflix's model.
 
bwana said:
I'm not sure it will be. Sure, DSTV will spend billions to get the "rights" to the latest shows but latest and greatest isnt Netflix's model.
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Fair point. And, to be fair I'd be happy to pay under R200 a month to stream entire seasons of classic series legally and reliably. Keyword - reliably.
 
Nick333 said:
Fair point. And, to be fair I'd be happy to pay under R200 a month to stream entire seasons of classic series legally and reliably. Keyword - reliably.
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Netflix is already the gold standard when it comes to streaming and things will only get better when if start hosting locally.
 
bwana said:
I'm not sure it will be. Sure, DSTV will spend billions to get the "rights" to the latest shows but latest and greatest isnt Netflix's model.
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Doesn't really matter since Netflix is starting to make it's own stuff. If I am not mistaken, House of Cards was on MNet :)
 
Nick333 said:
Do we know what the local version will cost and what will be available? This is SA, chances are Netflix SA will be [-]double[/-] [-]triple[/-] many times as expensive and shyt.
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FTFY

In such countries with high piracy rates, Wells intimated that Netflix has to come in with a more affordable price point in order to compete and attract new users.
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Somehow I doubt we'll get it any cheaper than anyone else, the SA model just does not work that way.
 
Nick333 said:
Fair point. And, to be fair I'd be happy to pay under R200 a month to stream entire seasons of classic series legally and reliably. Keyword - reliably.
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You can already do this with Netflix right now. For less than R200.
 
MOD Request.

How about a simple poll, do you currently subscribe to a "pirate" streaming provider:

NETFLIX
HULU
APPLETV USA
POPCORNTIME
ARR, ME TORRENTS
 
bwana said:
Netflix is already the gold standard when it comes to streaming and things will only get better when if start hosting locally.
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Hosted locally? The content is already served from the local edge here?
 
Kosmik said:
MOD Request.

How about a simple poll, do you currently subscribe to a "pirate" streaming provider:

NETFLIX
HULU
APPLETV USA
POPCORNTIME
ARR, ME TORRENTS
Click to expand...

Anyone here have some comments as to what the risks are to using Popcorntime?

Im also looking for some good documentary/ Discovery/ TLC type of streaming services.. any suggestions?
 
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