UK IPO publishes the 10th edition of the “Online Copyright Infringement Tracker”

On 30 March 2021, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) published the 10th edition of the Online Copyright Infringement Tracker (OCI).

The OCI report “is conducted annually to ensure that the IPO can monitor the impact of new online platforms on infringement behaviours”. The report tracks behaviours and attitudes among consumers aged over 12 years in the UK regarding online copyright infringement.

Some highlights of the 10th edition of the OCI report are the following:

• The “overall level of infringement for all content categories (excluding digital visual images) was at 23%, which is 2% lower than where it had been for the previous four years”.
• “The amount of legal content consumed in both [streaming TV programmes/series and films] categories also increased while the amount of illegal content either remained the same or decreased”.
• “Despite a decrease in the overall proportion downloading, the volume of [music] tracks downloaded by both legal and illegal methods per respondent increased”.

The overall levels of infringement per categories

The 10th edition of the OCI report offers a high level of granularity. An overview of the overall levels of infringement per category is provided below:

Category	The most common method of accessing the content	The overall level of infringement
Music	Streaming (37%), followed by downloading (23%) and purchased physical music (11%)	2020: 18% 2019: 20%
Film	Streaming (42%), followed by downloading (18%) and purchased physical copies (13%)	2020: 20% 2019: 27%
TV programmes/ series	Streaming (42%), followed by downloading (16%) and purchased physical copies (4%)	2020: 14% 2019: 17%
Live sport	Streaming (8%)	2020: 37% 2019: 34%
Video games	Downloading (16%), followed by streaming (11%) and purchased physical copies (9%)	2020: 11% 2019: 6%
Software	Downloading (18%), followed by streaming (8%) and purchased physical copies (4%)	2020: 20 2019: 18%
E-books	Physical purchasing (26%), followed by downloading (20%) and streaming/accessing (8%)	2020: 17% 2019*
Digital magazines	Physical purchasing (12%), followed by downloading (6%) and streaming/accessing (5%)	2020: 28%
Audiobooks	Downloading (8%), followed by streaming (5%) and purchased physical copies (2%)	2020: 14% 2019*

In 2019*, the category of e-publishing included inter alia books, magazines, and newspapers. 35% of e-publishing consumers in 2019 claimed to have used at least one illegal source to access e-publications. The category of digital magazines was introduced in the 10th edition of the OCI report.

You can review here more details of the levels of infringement per category (e.g., source type [legal, mix, illegal] per each method of accessing the content).

Comments

The 10th edition of the OCI report sheds light on changes in consumer behaviours during the lockdown in terms of consumption and overall levels of infringement of specific digital content.

Respondents indicated that some activities, such as reading, watching films, playing video games, and listening to music, played a key role in their lives as the content helps them cope with the struggles derived from the lockdown (e.g., stress, boredom, and anxiety).

Compared to the previous year, consumption (i.e., downloading or streaming content online) remained consistent across some categories. However, there was a decline in downloading music and TV programmes/series. Likewise, the streaming of live sport decreased, but there was an increase in streaming films.

Regarding the overall levels of infringement, the categories of live sport, video games and software reported an increase. In contrast, the overall levels of infringement of music, film and TV programmes/series declined.

The report also provides insights into consumer motivations driving online infringement, such as the “cost and wanting to limit spending - particularly within categories where content is split across many different providers with separate subscriptions to pay for each; the availability and broad range of content accessible via illegal sources which often offer people more options than legal methods [and] the ease of access of illegal methods meaning that there are relatively few barriers to use”.

Interesting findings regarding changes in consumer behaviours with respect to online infringement, through communications testing and effective messaging per infringer types, are also offered in the study.

It was found that messages “about the consequences to industries, big corporations or the economy [,] failed to garner much empathy”, whilst focusing on individual stories had more impact on encouraging self-reflection that may lead to behaviour change.

Messages that focused on the stories about the potential harm to individuals in the industry (e.g., artists, creatives, or employers) had an impact on both cautious infringers (i.e., “who worry about infringing the law and the risks of illegal activity”) and savvy infringers (i.e., “who are more tech savvy and knowingly access content illegally without much concern over related dangers or consequences”).

While cautious infringers responded better to a broad range of messages, savvy infringers reacted better to those highlighting risks to their hardware and devices (e.g., digital viruses). Savvy infringers also seemed “sceptical about the true impact of illegal access on industries or of the opinion that industries must change, not consumers”.

The OCI report provides valuable insights into online copyright infringement and consumer behaviours, which will be beneficial when implementing policies, particularly concerning raising awareness in the fight against online piracy.

The full report of the 10th edition of the OCI Tracker (246 pages) is available upon request via research@ipo.gov.uk.

Sources:

Press release published by UK IPO.

Online Copyright Infringement Tracker Latest wave of research (March 2020) Overview and Key Findings.

Credits:

The first image is by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

The second and third images are courtesy of Riana Harvey.