MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine creative economy could lose around $1 billion in annual revenue by 2027 if online video piracy is not controlled and continues to gain more users, according to a study by an independent Asia Pacific research provider.
In a recent study, Media Partners Asia (MPA) said the growth and monetization of the Philippine online video industry lags due to piracy.
It said at easy access to pirated online video content inhibits the development of the premium video sector, including subscription video on demand (VOD) and premium advertising video on demand (AVOD).
“Online video piracy is pervasive, growing to 20 million users in 2022 with revenue leakage of $781 million representing an alarming 53 percent of legal video industry/ screen revenues,” MPA said.
“If online piracy is not brought under control, the illegal industrial activity could claim 31 million users by 2027 with annual leakage of $1 billion,” the research provider said.
MPA emphasized that the Philippine online video industry is a critical component of the country’s creative economy as it generated $419 million worth of revenue in 2022.
“Despite robust home and mobile broadband connectivity, the Philippines lags peer Southeast Asian markets in online video industry development especially with regards to SVOD household penetration,” MPA said.
It said that Premium VOD consumption is growing with Netflix, Viu, Disney, Amazon and local players (iWANT TFC and Vivamax) all contributing as local households and users consume content from the US, Korea and the Philippines.
Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) director general Rowel Barba said the results of the study are concerning, emphasizing the need to work together with global partners to address the issue of global video piracy.
“It really needs a collaboration, it should even be global. It should involve a global effort because the issue is very porous. It’s a trans-border crime, wherein sometimes, the website is outside of the country,” Barba said.
“We have been working with them, especially our dialogue partners, USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office), the UK, Japan, Korea,” he said.
According to the MPA report, having piracy controls on online video will help unlock more value for the country’s creatives industry as local content investment in the online video sector is seen to potentially more than double to $390 million by 2027 versus a current projected trajectory of $138 million.
Similarly, it said that more efforts to combat online content theft would help grow premium online video revenues by three times to $1.6 billion in 2027 with a significant multiplier in the process.
“Piracy controls will boost employment with the creation of 2,800 new jobs over the next five years (i.e. 2022-27), as video sector employment output grows to $402 million by 2027, a major incremental boost of $220 million,” MPA said.
Barba urged the public to respect intellectual property of Philippine creatives and inventors and only patronize video content legally.
He said illegal streaming affects the legal business of Filipino creatives, which in turn may affect employment in the country.