Piracy Wars – Now OONA Free OTT TV Offers a Solution

                                Image credit: Jakarta globe

"Digital film piracy is the biggest single threat to the development of our film industry" [1]

Last year, the great Indonesian film industry reportedly fell victim to a massive $107 billion piracy sting. In fact, research undertaken by the Institute for Economics and Social Research at the University of Indonesia (LPEM-UI), shows that this was due to DVD and content piracy in just four Indonesian cities.

Chaikal Nuryakin, the study's senior researcher, said that the study was confined to Jakarta, Bogor (West Java), Medan (North Sumatra), and Deli Serdang (North Sumatra). Of note, Chaikal said the study: “also projected that bringing the research to 30 more cities across Indonesia would likely drive up the total loss figure [by another 35.6 billion]” [1]. This represents a totally unacceptable loss for the both film industry, and its associated industries.

As Andrea Tejokusumo, from Trinity Western University notes: “Digital piracy has been and continues to be a major issue in the Indonesian copyright and IP landscape, owing to a number of factors including collectivism, lack of clear regulations, and [a lack of] enforcement against unlawful breaches of copyright” [2]. However, things are changing, and “the new copyright law [that came into force in 2014, is being regarded] as a promising step toward improving Indonesia's IP landscape” [2]. Moreover, the emergence of OONA's cutting-edge free OTT mobile TV, on the scene in 2018, is a major step towards drowning the pirates for good.

OONA, which is mainly funded by personalised ads, offers a lot of interactive fun, and even rewards viewers for their loyalty with its virtual currency (tcoins), which can be redeemed for branded goods and services, fun days out, meals, discounts, free phone minutes and telcom products. - All they have to do is to watch and share their favourite live and on-demand content, and interact with Siskabot – the cool AI bot, who is there to serve them, and personalise their content and ad experience. - This means that they watch what they love and are interested in; and when it comes to ads, only be shown the ones that can save them time and money.

  One of the many digital billboards across Indonesia advertising free mobile TV on OONA

The Pirate Downloading Demographic

The research indicates that the Indonesians who are downloading illegal online films and buying pirated DVDs, are within the 15 to 45 age category. Chaikal commented that they: "are drawn to pirated content because it’s cheap, and for those in remote areas it's the only way to watch films" [1]. Fortunately, OONA Indonesia in partnership with telcom giant, Telkom Indonesia, plans to change all this by offering 185 million people first-class broadcast-quality, data-free and subscription-free live and on demand TV, that can be watched anytime, any where.

Further, Fauzan Zidni, the chairman of the Indonesian Film Producers Association, noted that: “Indonesia, with a population of more than 250 million people, only have 1,117 cinema screens (one screen per 224,000 people), and more than a third of them are located in the Greater Jakarta area” [1]. To that end, being able to watch free exciting content on over 200 top national and international channels via the OONA platform, is a real turning point for a large percentage of the population, and a major thrust towards protecting the copyright of studios and content holders.

A Common Practice That Will Eventually Come to an End

The research undertaken by LPEM-UI also uncovered the fact that a large percentage of Indonesians do not realise that they are breaking the law whenever they watch films and other content which has been illegally distributed. Chaikal remarked that: "People keep buying pirated DVDs and download illegally because they see their friends doing the same, they think the practice is totally acceptable. Everyone can download and redistribute pirated content on social media. [They] no longer watch movies in the cinemas. They can do it in just one click. This definitely hurts the film industry" [1]. But these people are no longer beholden to having to go rogue with the pirate sites. - They have a far better, and legal option - they have OONA. Now they can now download the OONA app, and click on: movies, series, live sports, combat specials, motoring shows, cookery channels, fashion, cartoons, comedy, documentaries, educational broadcasts, local and world news, and other exciting content. And they even get virtual currency rewards just for being part of the OONA phenomenon!

The Major Problem With Subscriptions

Indonesian DVDs on the pirate trail can be purchased at up to 10 times less than the originals, although the quality is likely to be abominable. Moreover, Hulu, Iflix, HOOK and other streaming services, are unable to contend, as it is still more expensive to subscribe to them than to pay out money for pirated DVDs. But thanks to the over-the-top OONA free TV revolution, and OONA's ethos for doing social good, this will no longer be the case.

Taking Action

Fauzan, the chairman of Aprofi, noted that last year, the Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Ministry successfully took down over 324 websites which were violating copyright. Yet, when it comes to piracy, the root of the problem is often due to the perspective of the general public. Last year, in order to produce an anti-piracy crusade to educate the general public about the huge cost of piracy, the Association of Indonesian Film Producers (Aprofi), joined forces with:the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, the Communication and Information Technology Ministry, and the Indonesian Cineplex chain XXI. Fauzan remarked that: “They're getting the message, slowly" [1].

Taking a global overview, the scenario is pretty much the same everywhere. And of course, the losses are staggering. For example, as reported by Forbes, in 2014:  "Expendables 3 lost about $100 million dollars due to piracy" [3]. Moreover, the film's producer, Avi Lerner, stated that: “If piracy continues to be rampant like this, then in four to five years it will be the end of the independent film business as we know it, and the studios will be making way less films then they do now” [3]. Fast forward, and we see that movie studios and production companies are far less likely to lend independent film makers the funds to produce independent films [5].

About OONA

OONA has rapidly become a premiere distribution company, and is regarded as one of the major players in the ever expanding world of digital entertainment. OONA's data-free and subscription-free service can be instrumental in helping to eradicate piracy across the globe. Now, pirate site users no longer have to risk breaking the law and being penalised. Moreover, they can save hours of their valuable time every week, by saying "adios" to endlessly scrolling through various pirate sites for what they would like to watch. 

OONA is also on course to provide its state-of-the-art free (and premium service), to consumers in other parts of Asia, Africa, South America, the Middle East, the US and Europe.

                                            Image credit: Devian Tart

References

[1]. Diella, Yasmin (2018). “Piracy Still Scourge of Indonesia's Film Industry.” Jakarta Globe. https://jakartaglobe.id/features/piracy-still-scourge-indonesias-film-industry/ Accessed 25 Oct. 2018.

[2]. Tejokusumo, Andrea. (2014). “Challenges and regulatory changes in addressing digital piracy in Indonesia”. Researchgate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272418091_Challenges_and_regulatory_changes_in_addressing_digital_piracy_in_Indonesia Accessed 25 Oct. 2018.

[3]. Grandos, Nelson (2015). "How Piracy Is Still Hurting The Filmmakers And Artists You Admire."

Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelsongranados/2015/12/03/how-piracy-hurts-the-filmmakers-and-artists-you-admire/#1d3b3d354554  Accessed 25 Oct. 2018.

[4]. Levy, Davinia (2016). "Is piracy democratizing entertainment or destroying it?." The World Bank. https://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/piracy-democratizing-entertainment-or-destroying-it Accessed 25 Oct. 2018.