Blue-chip brands have again been caught up bankrolling dubious online sites with a number of online advertising campaigns featuring prominently on piracy sites which provide illegal downloads for music, TV and feature film content.
Over the past two years AdNews has revealed a host of big Australian brands such as Westpac, Coles and Aussie advertising on soft porn sites – the disclosure resulted in an immediate review by Westpac of its online advertising practices.
Now the music industry – rocked by more than a decade of illegal downloading – is behind a concerted push for major brands to halt their support for peer-to-peer networks which facilitate free, illegal downloading of recorded music. The allure for advertisers is filesharing sites tend to attract keenly sought-after audiences at deeply discounted advertising rates, particularly for younger users.
Music Rights Australia has teamed up with the Audited Media Association of Australia as part of a widespread initiative to halt the practice. MRA would not disclose brand names it knows are buying ad space on downloading sites such as PirateBay, IsoHunt and Bitsnoop but AdNews’ research shows Australian advertisers appearing on these sites include Sportsbet, Bet365 and Virgin Australia.
Another online ad offers $1,000 shopping coupons for Coles, Woolworths and IGA. Although all three supermarket logos appear prominently in the ad, it appears to be bait for a European-based operator.
According to IFPI figures, global recorded music industry revenues have plummeted from $37 billion to $16 billion in the decade to 2010. PwC estimates 192 million songs were illegally downloaded in Australia in the first quarter of 2012 alone.
“There is evidence of brands being in these places but I’m not in the business of naming names,” MRA general manager Vanessa Hutley told AdNews. “We have examples but we’re not going to name them. I don’t think this is a question of assigning blame. We want to find co-operative solutions with the advertising industry to make sure brands are not inadvertently supporting piracy.
“Advertising is the lifeblood for these sites. The content brings the eyeballs, the ads are their business model. Advertising spend will have a significant impact on how they can sustain their business model. They don’t give anything back to the creative and content industries they are exploiting.”
Hutley said there was “no silver bullet” to deal with illegal downloading but industry-wide support from adland was needed. Hutley will address the issue and table solutions for the problem at an AMAA 'Accountability in Ad Spend' Conference on 23 October in Sydney.
This article first appeared in the 4 October 2013 edition of AdNews, in print and on iPad. Click here to subscribe for more news, features and opinion.
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