According to research carried out at the University of Portsmouth those who illegally download movies are more likely to go to the cinema and are happy to pay for movies.
Movie downloaders also cut down their torrenting if they feel like they are actually hurting the industry. They are also, apparently, wealthier than those who steal music and are generally people who like to be at the forefront of technology.
They are also mostly young men, who according to University of Plymouth economists Dr Joe Cox and Professor Alan Collins have the expertise and equipment needed to handle the more complex world of movie downloading.
The results, based on a Finnish survey of 6,100 people, between the ages of seven and 84, suggested that, on average, they had downloaded 90 movies and 2900 music files. Their conclusions were that movie downloaders were less likely to cut back their legitimate spend as a result of downloading and believe they are less likely to be caught than music downloaders.
The conclusions drawn were that the adverts which discourage illegal movie downloads are more effective than those which try to prevent music downloads. In fact, we suspect that the truth is that users like the convenience of downloading movies, and the hassle-free nature of cutting out physical formats. If you have an opinion on why the two are so different, we would love to hear about it in the comments below.