By Roger Gertze
The future of video entertainment depends on whether users consume content responsibly. As the biggest video consumers out there, Gen Z have a major part to play. Here’s what young people can do to protect the world of content creation.
Gen Z are the digital natives of our time, existing in a sea of digital content, but navigating it with ease and finding exactly what they need for information, entertainment, and social connections. The generation born between 1997 and 2012 will shape the digital future of our society. But that digital leadership comes with a great responsibility.
Being able to access any content you want with a couple of keystrokes is empowering and convenient. But what we do online can have a real effect on people’s lives.
Streaming content such as films, music and TV shows is created by teams of professionals who invest their time and money in producing quality, relevant material that captures the imagination of audiences. They deserve to be fairly compensated for that content.
The way to ensure that we behave ethically – as well as legally – is that when we access streaming content – whether its Op Pad Met My Potjie, Big Brother, Champions League Football, or Real Housewives – we should only view shows on legitimate, officially licensed channels. On these platforms, we can be sure that producers and rightsholders have been fairly compensated for their work.
Today, we are all content creators, generating our own posts, pics, comments, stories, pods and video clips. One of the basic values of content creation is to never, ever, steal content.
Respect to those who earn a living as content creators and producers of film and television shows. For them, content is their only source of income.
Browsing and consuming content on legitimate platforms means we can be sure that everybody involved in the production will get the compensation and the royalties they deserve. That means the writers, the actors, the hair and make-up artists, the producers and the sound crew will all be paid their salaries, and will receive the royalties they are entitled to.
When we consume content responsibly, we are living according to the values of fairness and integrity that we would like to see from those around us. We also ensure that the industry remains sustainable. When all film and TV workers are fairly paid for a particular production, then it remains viable to keep producing shows. That means more shows will be filmed in the future.
Fair content use supports fair content creation.
On the other hand, when we stream content from pirate websites, we are basically stealing from the creators. We are robbing them of the income they deserve. That content theft means it is no longer worthwhile to create those shows, and they will simply stop happening.
Pirate websites create nothing of their own. The only content that they can share is what they have stolen from other websites. When that goes on long enough, there will be no income for the creators, and no new content. Pretty soon, there will be nothing left to steal!
Content piracy is huge.
It has been estimated that there are around 230 billion views of pirated video material every year, and that digital video piracy costs its true owners billions each year.
As the largest generation of digital consumers, young people have the power to do something about this. Consume content responsibly – support creators, encourage innovative, high-quality new content, and support a sustainable future for creative content.
By using content responsibly, we ensure that there will be content for the future!
*Roger Gertze is MultiChoice Namibia Managing Director
