American Sniper would have won Best Picture if the Oscars were determined by online piracy rates
BIRDMAN may have walked away with the honor of Best Picture at the Oscars, but who would have won if the awards were determined by online piracy rates?
THE Oscars are done and dusted for another year and Birdman walked away with the gold.
However, if the Oscars were determined by online piracy rates the Best Picture result would have been very different.
With 1,389,819 downloads worldwide, American Sniper would have taken the prestigous honor.
That’s according to new statistics provided by from Irdeto, a world leader in anti-piracy and Revenue Assurance solutions.
The company monitored illegal downloads in over 200 countries in the wake of nominations being announced.
It was discovered downloads of pirated Academy Award-nominated films increased 385 per cent in the month following the nominations.
Irdeto estimated the data equated to over $40 million in lost revenue, however they do acknowledge that not every download represented a lost sale.
“Nominated films were pirated from a number of formats including Blu-ray discs, HDTV, DVD and other sources,” they wrote.
“However, Hollywood screeners specifically accounted for a substantial 31 per cent of the total illegal downloads tracked between January 15 and February 14.”
Vice-president of sales Rory O’Connor said the data shows the world is paying attention to the Academy Awards.
“There is significant demand for new movies to be available earlier, in more geographies and over more platforms,” he said.
“In the world of internet redistribution, the window between theatrical release and worldwide market availability may simply be too long, leaving room for pirates to take advantage and offer consumers alternative means of instant gratification.
“Today’s consumers simply refuse to wait to access these movies through legitimate services.”
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