Online Advertising Support for Piracy Growing

CASBAA presented an overview of the development of online advertising support for piracy in Asian markets to the annual meeting of the Copyright Committee of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. The presentation can be downloaded here.

The problems, as noted in the presentation are that:

–  Advertising revenues make piracy of broadcast content a lucrative racket, and as a result…

–  …Asian broadcasters’ programs and broadcast streams are increasing being pirated online.

–  Measures adopted in large, English-speaking overseas markets to improve ad industry practices have not had automatic follow-on effects in Asian markets, and as a result, websites pirating Asian content seem particularly well-supported by mainstream advertising, despite contradictory corporate policies put in place for the English web.

–  “High-risk” advertising (for porn, gambling, scams, malware, etc.) is also prominent on Asian piracy websites, which are responsible for propagating social values that many Asian governments abhor.

The presentation mentions deterrent steps taken in other parts of the world, including advertising Codes of Practice, interfering with payment processing, and site blocking of the most egregious piracy websites.

CASBAA members who are interested in more background information, copies of research studies, etc. can find more links here:
http://www.casbaa.com/regulatory/ad-awareness-studies-in-asia-2/