Software (7863)

One-third of us making illegal copies of DVDs

Number is up from 2007

10 July 2008 17:51 GMT / By Katie Scott

There are warnings galore and the government, and film industry, are trying to crackdown on it, but it seems that more and more of us are making illegal copies of DVDs.

According to a new survey by analyst firm Futuresource Consulting, 38% of UK users and 32% of US users have copied a DVD disc within the past 6 months.

The research took in 5331 people, and concluded that illegal DVD copying is on the rise.

Last year, only a quarter of those quizzed admitting to copying a DVD.

Of the respondents who admitted to copying DVDs, 63% in the UK and 77% in the US said that they would have otherwise purchased the copied material.

"As studio revenues from DVD are in decline, protecting revenues is even more vital than 12 months ago", said the report.

"The vast majority of these copiers admit that they would purchase at least some of the titles on DVD if they had not been able to copy them, clearly indicating the significant levels of lost revenue due to home copying."

The survey pointed to 18-24-year-old males as the most likely culprits, and movies are the most copied material, followed by TV shows and then, surprise surprise, "special interest" titles (in other words, porn).

Full tags

Software, Hardware, DVD, Statistics, Home Cinema