A new study of the online content viewing behaviour of Taiwanese consumers, revealed that 33% of consumers have accessed
streaming piracy websites or torrent sites to access premium content without paying any subscription fees. In addition,
28% of consumers use a TV box which can be used to stream pirated television and video content. These TV boxes, also
known as Illicit Streaming Devices (ISDs), allow users to access hundreds of pirated television channels and
video-on-demand content, usually with a low annual subscription fee. TV boxes often come pre-loaded with illegal
applications allowing 'plug-and-play' access to pirated content. The QBox, UBox and EVPad remain the most popular
illicit streaming devices purchased by consumers.
The survey, commissioned by the Asia Video Industry Association's Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) and conducted by
YouGov, highlights the detrimental effects of streaming piracy on legitimate subscription video services. Of the 28% of
consumers who purchased a TV box used to stream pirated television and video content, half stated that they had
cancelled all or some of their subscription to legal pay TV services.
In addition to the short-term problem of cancelled subscriptions is a longer term problem - namely, many of the people
streaming pirated content are young. The survey found that 47% of 18-24 year-olds and 61% of 25-34 year-olds used ISDs
or other apps/services to view infringing entertainment content. The free streaming problem is not limited to the low
income demographic. On the contrary, the survey found that the usage rate of piracy streaming services increased with
household income level (low income group - 25% mid income group - 35%; high income group - 43%)
Neil Gane, the General Manager of AVIA's Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) commented, "Consumers are funding crime groups
as well as wasting their money when purchasing illicit streaming devices, when they find their ISD can no longer access
live sports matches or their favourite TV shows. The global content industry is now collaborating to prevent and disrupt
illegal feeds of live sports, TV channels, and video-on-demand content through enforcement against the illicit IPTV
operators and blocking orders against piracy streaming websites and piracy applications. ISDs can never provide quality
programming and a 'service guarantee', no matter what the seller may claim."
Thomas Ee, the Chairman at Taiwan Broadband Communications also added, "The damage that online piracy does to the Taiwan
creative industry is without dispute and the results of this latest survey are alarming. With the support from the
Taiwanese government, our industry must continue to work together closely to do more to protect intellectual property
and to work even harder to stamp out ISDs and streaming piracy in Taiwan."
About the Asia Video Industry Association
The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) is the trade association for the video industry and ecosystem in Asia
Pacific. It serves to make the video industry stronger and healthier through promoting the common interests of its
members. AVIA is the interlocutor for the industry with governments across the region, leads the fight against video
piracy and provides insight into the video industry through reports and conferences aimed to support a vibrant video
industry. AVIA evolved from CASBAA in 2018.
About the Survey
Data was collected from 5th December to 9th December using YouGov's online panel of Taiwan. All data is weighted to be
representative of the online population. Sample size: Taiwan n=1033.