Advertisers could kill digital piracy 'overnight'

Digital piracy is profitable because online advertisers spend millions of dollars to have their banners displayed around content that engages their target demographic.

With the decline of DVD and physical sales accelerating, and places like Netflix and Amazon Instant offering high quality content on demand, there's a good reason why copyright owners need protection on the web. Online distribution is the future of all creative content whether people want to hear it or not.

An anti-piracy industry group called CreativeFuture is making their case with advertisers to encourage them to review the damage their ad dollars are having on the industry, while they can protect the work of legitimate copyright owners.

"Associating with piracy threatens your business and the value of the brands you serve…Pirate sites also severely undermine creative industries and the overall creative economy."

- Executive Director Ruth Vitale

So how can advertisers play a role in this? Well if you think about how ads are displayed, it wouldn't take much for an ad network to cut-off certain blacklisted websites in their exchange, and that's much easier to do than actually taking legal action to have a site closed in the first place.

There has also never been such a big supply of ad space available on the web with premium publishers and outlets providing good content. So even if advertisers lose millions of page views from these fake websites (which they don't even know they're advertising on), there would still be an abundant supply of websites to target their audiences.

Ultimately ad networks play the role in implementing the changes that ban fake sites from displaying ads. As the industry is moving towards RTB (Real-time bidding) and programmatic buying, soon, everything will be automated, so setting up the technology to place ads only on legit sites, is the way forward.

Without the business model of ads for large online pirate sites, there are few other options for them to make money directly from visitors

The only other way digital piracy could be profitable without ad networks is if the website owners negotiated direct-sold campaigns themselves, or set up a paying subscription for visitors. Who's going to believe that?

Iain Alexander

Founder - Film Industry Network

Share

Recent news

How to make your entertainment business look more professional

Whether you are new to the business world or not, it's essential to make a…

February 8, 2024

6 Career Tips for the Aspiring Sound Editor

Embarking on a career in sound editing is an exciting venture, filled with opportunities to…

January 17, 2024

Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival reveals 2024 lineup

The International Competition is set to showcase 66 films representing 52 nationalities.

December 19, 2023

Short film ‘Bridge’ to receive world premiere at Norwich Film Festival

NHS Receptionist receives BBC Talent Development Commission to make Short Film 'Bridge' which receives its…

November 8, 2023

On the Hunt with Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a First Look at ‘Kraven The Hunter’

Kraven the Hunter is part of Sony's broader strategy to build out its Spider-Verse, focusing…

October 30, 2023

31st edition of the Raindance Film Festival set to open in London

The Raindance Film Festival, the biggest independent film festival in the UK, is returning to…

October 25, 2023