Password sharing for SVOD services is common among young people in the US.
According to an August 2017 study from Morning Consult, 37% of US internet users share their password for at least one streaming service account, usually Netflix.
A round of polling, conducted August 17-19 byt the research company, revealed that while most people (635) do not share their streaming accounts, young people were much more likely to do so, with 565 of 18- to 29-year-olds saying they share their passwords.
Out of the 37% of the 2,200 adults who said they share at least one account, the vast majority (85%) said they shared a Netflix password. Coming in second was Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video, picked by 405 of those who said they shared passwords. YouTube TV (21%) was third.
A little under half of the respondents (44%) in the previous survey said they would be willing to pay to subscribe to a service to watch a particular show. But in the more recent survey, 58% of people who said they share an account also said they would subscribe to the service on their own if they were unable to access it through sharing.
89% percent of all those surveyed in the new poll said they personally do not pirate movies, television shows or music. A plurality of adults (46%) also consider it theft, while 35% said it was not.
However, among the youngest respondents, a greater proportion said they did not see piracy as theft. Of those aged 18-29, 34% said they saw the pirating of music, movies or television shows to be stealing, while 44% said they do not consider it theft.
Among all respondents, a plurality of 43 percent said they would be uncomfortable watching pirated television or films, with 25% saying they would be comfortable, and 32 percent didn’t have an opinion. More than half (52%) said that even if they had access to a leaked show or movie, they would wait until it was released to see it.