The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) co-chair Anne Sweeney seems to be getting what's going on in the entertainment world a lot quicker than her colleagues. She recently mentioned after viewing some bootleg copies of some of their properties that piracy isn't simply an illegal problem that needs to be fought, but rather it is a business model that consumers demand.
"We understand now that piracy is a business model," said Sweeney. "It exists to serve a need in the market for consumers who want TV content on demand. Pirates compete the same way we do - through quality, price and availability. We don't like the model but we realise it’s competitive enough to make it a major competitor going forward."
Disney's been leading the way as there have been 12.8 million downloads of Disney shows through its deal with Apple through its iTunes store.
She understands that the power has shifted to the consumer and they want to consume content when and where they want. She went on to say, "This power shift changes the way we think about our business, industry and our viewers. We have to build our businesses around their behaviour and their interests.
"All of us have to continually renew our business in order to renew our brands because audiences have upper hand and show no sign of giving it back."
This is how the piracy business model should have been taken on a long time ago. There should have been an immediate alternative created by the content companies so that the focus was on the consumers and what they wanted, rather than on people were sharing something for free.
She gets it right when she says that the business must be built around the behavior and interests of consumers. The question is: Why is this being treated as if it's something new?
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