and the #1 top illegally downloaded show in the world is...

[Orac Zen]

Sooooooo.... people are illegally downloading a show that is available on free TV, and can also be watched for free on the network's website. Help me understand this one.

The network here that occasionally deigns to screen Heroes made a big song and dance about how they were "fast-tracking" the show so we could see it at "almost the same time" (or words to that effect) as the US. Turns out their idea of "fast-tracking" was (initially, at least) a week after its US screening; it's since blown out to two or three weeks (and they show it in a pretty late-night time slot to boot). If people have a choice of waiting anything up to three weeks to see new episodes - which are shunted all over the schedule and are sometimes pre-empted - or downloading it within a day or so of its US screening...well, it's not rocket science to figure out which one people are going to go with.

Additionally, "watch for free on the network's website" is all very well if one lives in the US. Such sites often don't cater for the non-US market.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

And here I was hoping it would be Doctor Who.

Heroes? Seriously? Wow, that's lame.

 

[FordSVT]

I thought it was top gear.

The article mentions that too, as being downloaded pretty frequently but it's not in the top ten.

Probably has something to do with the small number of episodes they broadcast each year, only a half dozen to a dozen or so depending on the series.

 

[Arrqh]

Sooooooo.... people are illegally downloading a show that is available on free TV, and can also be watched for free on the network's website. Help me understand this one.

Furthermore, unless the people downloading in the US had nielson boxes to begin with... they weren't contributing to the ratings anyway. A worldwide breakdown is also important because TV shows are not simulcast worldwide... and many people who are fans of a show would rather download then wait even a few days to see a show they're in to. You can see that in their Top Gear stats... only 4% of the download activity was in the country the episode had aired and the rest of it was in countries where it had not aired. How do you fix that problem? Make the episodes accessible to those people by either airing it at around the same time or making it available in an online format where you can still capture some ad revenue out of.

The later won't happen of course due to all the wrangling between content distributors over international borders... the same reason why Hulu is only available in the US.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Let's see...

Heroes is the most downloaded show in the world because it takes so long to air in other markets, if it actually airs at all.

Top Gear is one of the most downloaded shows in the U.S. since it takes so long to air on BBC America, whose website is currently advertising a season that aired in 2005.

Nope, nothing in common there. Nothing that the studios and networks can actually learn from. Nothing AT ALL.

Plus, in Top Gear's case, BBCA takes out 15-20 minutes of every episodes to fit commercials in.

I don't see any irony there...

 

[The Evil Dead]

The main reasons I download are; no commercials, high quality video (I could download HD episodes of Galactica online I could not see in Canada until I was able to buy the Blu-Ray DVDs months later) but the big one, my primary reason for doing it is the convenience.

I buy more music now than I have in years thanks to iTunes. If I want a song or an album, within minutes I can have it and it only costs me 99 cents for a song or 10 bucks for an album? I feel like I am ripping off iTunes compared to the old CD industry of the 1990s. Gimme that kind of convenience for the latest episode of Lost or Supernatural and I will absolutely start paying for the content.

Also, I do always try to pick up the DVDs for the stuff I really love. I will be picking up Supernatural Season 4 Blu-Ray tomorrow and deleting my 720p rips of the 4th season from my computer.

 

[Captain Shaw]

Let's see...

Heroes is the most downloaded show in the world because it takes so long to air in other markets, if it actually airs at all.

Top Gear is one of the most downloaded shows in the U.S. since it takes so long to air on BBC America, whose website is currently advertising a season that aired in 2005.

Nope, nothing in common there. Nothing that the studios and networks can actually learn from. Nothing AT ALL.

Plus, in Top Gear's case, BBCA takes out 15-20 minutes of every episodes to fit commercials in.

I don't see any irony there...

People i have talked to from the USA could not believe how much better top gear was when they got hold of a full episode.
I now believe the BBC has started putting full episodes on I tunes but they are a bit behind.

 

[Sheep]

People i have talked to from the USA could not believe how much better top gear was when they got hold of a full episode.
I now believe the BBC has started putting full episodes on I tunes but they are a bit behind.

I'd have no problem buying the full seasons on DVD even with butchered music (due to the BBC only having music rights for the original airings). I thought it would be much more problematic when I heard about the music problems, but they did a good job of using appropriate public domain tunes for the Polar Special BD release (which actually has additional footage not in the aired version).

Those ~50 minute episodes on the Region 1 DVD release of season 10 with butchered music aren't going to cut it at all though.

 

[roarimaraptor]

Should I be ashamed to admit that I am one of the ones who downloaded the show? Blame it on my unnatural obsession with Quinto and my unwillingness to watch dozens of episodes of a show on a computer screen when I can just pop a dvd into my dvd player and watch on a much bigger screen. And I wasn't about to pay 40-50 bucks a season for a show I don't really care for. Without the Quinto thing, I probably wouldn't even watch the show. It's hard to follow, gets ridiculous frequently, and even the writers can't keep up with their own plots and subplots. It's like they make everything up on the fly. Especially during the third season.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Also, I do always try to pick up the DVDs for the stuff I really love.

Same here. I buy every season of Dexter, but few shows have rewatchability like that one.

 

[BigFoot]

^ Yeah same here. I DL quite a bit, but I do get everything that I enjoy on Blu-ray or DVD. There are certain shows that I only watch once (when I DL them) and then don't buy them because they're just not good enough.

 

[intrinsical]

For movies, my theory is that people are still very willing pay for good quality movies, especially if the movie has heaploads of special effects that look best on the big screen. Hence none of this year's big blockbusters such as Star Trek, Transformers or Harry Potter were heavily downloaded. People rather see these movies in the theatre and explains why these shows did not make it to any of the top-10 most downloaded lists that I have seen.

The heavily downloaded shows tend to be ones that did not get good publicity or have little or no special effects. Hence shows like GI Joe (brought down by its none too exciting trailer) and Bruno that are highly downloaded.

 

[Hermiod]

I thought it was top gear.

The article mentions that too, as being downloaded pretty frequently but it's not in the top ten.

Probably has something to do with the small number of episodes they broadcast each year, only a half dozen to a dozen or so depending on the series.

That's pretty standard for British shows. We don't artificially pad them out.

Top Gear is expensive by British standards, with a highly paid trio of presenters who have other things on the go at the same time.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

As OZ said, the network here, ended up showing "Villians" a good two months after it was screened in the USA, and at the timeslot of 10.30pm, and then later 11pm. I can see why people here would want to download it.

 

[Cap.T]

I also think the main problem is, that a lot of people aren't willing to wait for month and month till a regional broadcaster decides to air a show. And even when it gets aired it's often with the wrong picture format etc. If the studios would make there shows available online for the whole world the night or the day after they get broadcast, I bet pirating would go down a lot. I think a lot of people would also be willing to pay for that. But apparantly it's still more profitable to sell the shows to the rest of market.

 

[intrinsical]

I also think the main problem is, that a lot of people aren't willing to wait for month and month till a regional broadcaster decides to air a show. And even when it gets aired it's often with the wrong picture format etc. If the studios would make there shows available online for the whole world the night or the day after they get broadcast, I bet pirating would go down a lot. I think a lot of people would also be willing to pay for that. But apparantly it's still more profitable to sell the shows to the rest of market.

Due to the way the market is currently structured, foreign broadcasters have to buy shows for airing in their respective countries.

It is a valuable revenue stream for the studios and making shows available online for all countries would simply mean loosing that entire revenue stream. That is why Hulu and BBC's iPlayer are only respectively available for US and UK viewers. Short of a major restructuring of how the market works, I do not foresee a legitimate international service any time soon.

 

[Tomato]

3. Because I don't own a TV, I don't buy dVDs. When I own a TV, I will buy DVD's.

Can't you watch DVD's on your laptops that's what I did when I was a "poor student".

I think if you dl and enjoy it you should make an effort to buy the medium when it does come out. YOu don't have to buy it right away (ie like B5 and outrageous $80/season when it came out). But once it is at a reasonable price you should support it.

That's what I did with the Wire, Rome, Band of Brothers, and even my comics.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Somehow, I'm just not all that surprised.

 

[Starbreaker]

It's no fun to illegally download something that's on Hulu and Netflix.

 

[tharpdevenport]

3. Because I don't own a TV, I don't buy dVDs. When I own a TV, I will buy DVD's.

Can't you watch DVD's on your laptops that's what I did when I was a "poor student".

I don't own a computer either, I use someone else's -- a friend who is letting me stay. If not, I'd be in my car. No purchases until I have a place of my own, and a TV. That simple. You don't plug money away on something that doesn't serve a use in your situtation.

Anyway, bought DVD's in the passed, will continue to do so in the future.