• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, February 27, 2023

One in ten U.S. citizens pirated a TV show or movie in 2022. The question is why, in a world of exploding new digital platforms -- at theoretically a modest price.

With the rise of many premium streaming entertainment platforms -- which seem to contain thousands of hours of new content, and library content as well -- why pirate something when the cost on streaming platforms can be relatively cheap?

Some platforms can be priced as low as $4.99 for an individual service -- or around $15 a month from a completely ad-free service.

Not only that, but a Variety survey says 60% were fully aware that pirated content they watch was available by a full streaming service, 21% said that to the best of their knowledge, it wasn't available.

No doubt having the full industry's complement of streaming services could run up to $60 to $70 a month or more. One can see that at those overall levels, perhaps piracy is more tempting.

That might be why 48% of people believe the cost to buy legally is still too high.

Perhaps the reason could be laziness -- 36% of respondents say “the content is not available anywhere else.”

Still, pirated stuff can still also come with malware issues. Why take a risk for your brand new MacBook Pro priced that sets you back $1,500?

We are guessing that if you can't wait for “Avatar: The Way of Water” to come to your favorite premium streamer, taking a chance on piracy might be an alternative. As it happens, MUSO, an anti-piracy technology/analytics company, says 30.5 million “piracy demand” incidents took place for the movie since its debut.

Fair enough. Some higher piracy trends might also have been pushed by constraints during the pandemic, of course.

Taking in a movie in a theater may still be a risk for many people in 2023 and beyond.

Movie theaters still have not returned to pre-pandemic attendance levels. Take the temperature of piracy moves -- perhaps especially when it comes to the all-important summer movie season, and then the winter holiday season.

And by the way, could there be a recessionary economy on the way sometime this year?