People who illegally download movies also love going to the cinema and do not mind paying to watch films, research has shown.

Those who illegally download movies are more likely to be wealthier and less worried about being caught than their music counterparts, concluded the study, thought to be the first to examine the differences between movie and music pirates.

Dr Joe Cox, one of the University of Portsmouth economists involved in the study, said: "It is interesting to see that people who illegally download large quantities of movie files continue to pay for legal movie consumption to a far greater extent than music downloaders."

Movie pirates are also more likely to cut down their piracy if they feel they are harming the industry compared with people who illegally download music, according to Cox and fellow Portsmouth University economist Professor Alan Collins.

Movie pirates are 'early adopters'

The researchers analysed results from a survey of more than 6,000 people aged seven to 84 in Finland to examine the attitudes of those who illegally download movies and music from the internet.

Movie pirates are more likely to live in large cities and be "early adopters" of new technology, according to the study, published in the Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics.

"One of the reasons movie pirates are a different breed is downloading and filesharing films is much more technologically demanding," said Cox. "It requires faster internet speeds, greater digital storage capabilities and access to a wider range of devices for playback than pirating music, which has now become relatively simple, fast and cheap.

"However, it came as no surprise to find that the most prolific pirates of either movies or music tend to be younger men," Cox adds. "They have the skills, the motivation and the equipment between them to steal large volumes of music tracks and movies every month."

Pirates have an average 2,900 music files and 90 films

On average, each person involved in the survey had illegally downloaded about 2,900 music files and 90 movie files.

Previous studies have found that people who pirate content are also much more likely to purchase content legally than those who do not illegally download music and movies, often being greater consumers of media.

Illegal filesharers from the US and Germany were found to buy 30% more music than people who did not pirate music, for instance.

Among the reasons given for downloading files illegally were that it saved money, allowed access to material not on general release or before it was released, and that in doing so people could help artists bypass record companies or movie studios. Reasons given for not downloading or for limiting piracy included fear of downloading viruses or malware, that the content did not match the description, or that it was difficult to find and was of poor quality.

Cox said: "These findings are important from a policy perspective, because they suggest campaigns that emphasise the harmful effects on the movie industry of piracy are much more likely to be effective than similar campaigns focusing on the music industry."

Experts say the cost of piracy in the US alone is $12.5bn (£7.4bn) to the music industry and $20.5bn to the movie industry.

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