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The local shows that reflect the hopes, dreams and culture of Africa can only survive if African people join the fight against piracy. We need to become activists, everyday heroes reporting piracy, and protecting our continent’s creative sector.
As an African viewer, you want to see yourself in the content you consume. You want your entertainment platforms to give you shows that reflect your style, your tastes, your culture. But that is only possible if you help to fight content piracy and ensure that local content stays alive.
Content piracy means content is shared without the creators getting paid for their work. This undermines the entire industry and leads to less content being produced. This is especially true when it comes to local content. If local users watch pirated versions of the work made by their fellow Africans, that work will not be around for long.
Content warriors
That means if we want African content to survive, we need to protect it, by fighting piracy. The fight against piracy involves all of us. We need to see ourselves as a content warriors, fighting against piracy wherever we see it; champions of the creative industry.
First of all, that means using legitimate content platforms to access entertainment – whether through linear satellite TV, app-based streaming services, IPTV, or decoder-driven television, be sure to follow the legal route. As a rule of thumb, if you’re not paying a subscription, it’s not a legal platform. But some illicit sites may even ask you to register and charge you a negligible micropayment to access a bouquet of content that seems too good to be true. That content is pirated.
Other ways to identify pirate content is visible watermarks on the images, repeated pop-ups or annoying ads, or else low-quality versions of what should be world-class content. If you’re not sure, but you suspect you have come across a pirate content platform, you can report it and have the professionals investigate.
Visit here to learn more about cyberpiracy, and how to report suspected pirate activities such as stream ripping, IPTV piracy, file-sharing piracy or webcasting piracy. Your report will be investigated by Partners Against Piracy, a pan-African coalition of broadcasters, content creators and government agencies, dedicated to protecting the viability of the continent’s entertainment sector.
Financial impacts
It has been estimated that digital video piracy causes $67 billion in lost revenue for content producers, platforms and businesses every year. In the US, $28.3 billion is said to have been lost in live sports broadcasts; similarly, $29 billion is lost in film and television.
In Africa, where margins are tight, local video producers simply cannot afford to lose any revenue. Content piracy is killing the industry. To save Africa’s vibrant, but fragile creative sector, see yourself as a community protector, looking out for piracy and reporting it where you see it.
As content activists, we need to be proactive, getting involved in protecting the platforms and channels that allow African talent to flourish. If we don’t, they will wither and die. It may seem attractive to support a free content platform, but what have those platforms done to grow the industry?
Sadly, piracy platforms are like parasites on the creative sector, deriving income from advertising, or the sale of illicit passwords, decoders or fake subscriptions, while doing nothing to support and develop the sector. It is the legitimate platforms that generate employment, empower local businesses, and establish training academies to nurture the next generation of filmmakers.
Those are the filmmakers that ensure you will be able to see yourself reflected on screen; creating the type of entertainment that reflects the spirit and attitude of modern Africa. Let’s work to protect our fellow African creators, so that their work might continue to evolve, entertain and inspire us. Let’s fight content piracy!
