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I don't agree with "people want to watch what they want to watch." IMO the 2005-2015 wave of pirated content was due to the exact opposite; users (people in th

I don't agree with "people want to watch what they want to watch." IMO the 2005-2015 wave of pirated content was due to the exact opposite; users (people in the living room) not going the extra literal mile to buy/rent a DVD. With the coming of Spotify & Co the music pirate scene has pretty much died off and it's because the physical CDs are replaces by something orders of magnitude easier. Same thing is happening with video content now that most houses have the capability of streaming it. What people want to do after work is to sit in the sofa and press "play". They don't want to start installing software.

bearcobra 10y ago
> What people want to do after work is to sit in the sofa and press "play". They don't want to start installing software. Maybe, but Roku, Fire Sticks, Apple TV & Chromecast all seem to indicate that people are willing to put in some effort to set up a platform for video consumption. That combined with pre-installed solutions like iTunes and Microsoft Movies & TV give users some pretty easy options to compete with their browser.
e40 10y ago
I don't agree with "people want to watch what they want to watch." I have quite a few data points that say you are flat wrong about that. I would add to this: people watch what they want to watch and how they want to watch it. I've literally downloaded HBO shows even though I'm an HBO Now subscriber. The Roku HBO Now app is so horrible, I just hate using it.
- jameskegel 10y ago
  I agree with this. My frustration is not only HBO, but also UFC. I pay for Fight Pass because I love the sport, and I want to support it, but my Roku experience is so bad that I found myself looking for other means of consuming it.
  - e40 10y ago
    Me, too (on the UFC)! I never use it. I just pay them because I download the content elsewhere.
- mastazi 10y ago
  > I have quite a few data points Show us the data points or it didn't happen. I am highly sceptical about your statement and am convinced that most people are willing to pay in exchange for ease of use and convenience.
  - Silhouette 10y ago
    Show us the data points or it didn't happen. Sorry, that's not how it works. The situation is what it is, and the people with hard data are going to act on it, and your scepticism does not change any of that. As another person with business interests that produce custom video content for niche markets, I have shifted significantly in my attitude towards DRM since discovering how real people behave. We tried to be nice and considerate and not limit access to the video files with DRM. We did this while producing new, original content unlike anything else out there for our subscribers. We held out for several years. But we got to the point where we were spending so much time dealing with that that it was directly affecting our ability to deliver for the vast majority of our customers who respected the rules. We were losing out on revenues, our genuine customers were losing out on new content, and the only people winning were the freeloaders and the people enjoying our content on other people's sites/channels/whatever. My concern about DRM affecting legitimate customers if something goes wrong is as strong as ever, so we still take a cautious approach and err on the side of being nice. However, I have no qualms at all about DRMing every single asset we have, and I have no qualms whatsoever about deploying the lawyers against people who knowingly, maliciously and without remorse rip off the results of several years of hard work and share them with others. As a final point, none of this negates your point that making access convenient and prices reasonable improves conversion rates. But I see little evidence that this helps if part of your potential market is finding your content totally free from someone else first.

bearcobra 10y ago

> What people want to do after work is to sit in the sofa and press "play". They don't want to start installing software. Maybe, but Roku, Fire Sticks, Apple TV & Chromecast all seem to indicate that people are willing to put in some effort to set up a platform for video consumption. That combined with pre-installed solutions like iTunes and Microsoft Movies & TV give users some pretty easy options to compete with their browser.

e40 10y ago

I don't agree with "people want to watch what they want to watch." I have quite a few data points that say you are flat wrong about that. I would add to this: people watch what they want to watch and how they want to watch it. I've literally downloaded HBO shows even though I'm an HBO Now subscriber. The Roku HBO Now app is so horrible, I just hate using it.

jameskegel 10y ago
I agree with this. My frustration is not only HBO, but also UFC. I pay for Fight Pass because I love the sport, and I want to support it, but my Roku experience is so bad that I found myself looking for other means of consuming it.
- e40 10y ago
  Me, too (on the UFC)! I never use it. I just pay them because I download the content elsewhere.
mastazi 10y ago
> I have quite a few data points Show us the data points or it didn't happen. I am highly sceptical about your statement and am convinced that most people are willing to pay in exchange for ease of use and convenience.
- Silhouette 10y ago
  Show us the data points or it didn't happen. Sorry, that's not how it works. The situation is what it is, and the people with hard data are going to act on it, and your scepticism does not change any of that. As another person with business interests that produce custom video content for niche markets, I have shifted significantly in my attitude towards DRM since discovering how real people behave. We tried to be nice and considerate and not limit access to the video files with DRM. We did this while producing new, original content unlike anything else out there for our subscribers. We held out for several years. But we got to the point where we were spending so much time dealing with that that it was directly affecting our ability to deliver for the vast majority of our customers who respected the rules. We were losing out on revenues, our genuine customers were losing out on new content, and the only people winning were the freeloaders and the people enjoying our content on other people's sites/channels/whatever. My concern about DRM affecting legitimate customers if something goes wrong is as strong as ever, so we still take a cautious approach and err on the side of being nice. However, I have no qualms at all about DRMing every single asset we have, and I have no qualms whatsoever about deploying the lawyers against people who knowingly, maliciously and without remorse rip off the results of several years of hard work and share them with others. As a final point, none of this negates your point that making access convenient and prices reasonable improves conversion rates. But I see little evidence that this helps if part of your potential market is finding your content totally free from someone else first.