If you haven’t heard of Popcorn Time before today, we will be guilty of introducing this feared piracy site to you. But news is news, so here it is.
Popcorn Time is an app is meant to make pirating a movie as easy as streaming one on Netflix. The app allows you to browse through an iTunes-like catalog of movies and TV shows by their posters, select one for more information, and then start streaming it after a short buffering period. It’s so streamlined that anyone should be able to just pick it up and start watching.
So far so good. But in reality, Popcorn Time actually is a pretty face for downloading torrents, an activity that’s typically going to be illegal when you’re looking for major films and TV shows. This form of piracy is far from a new phenomenon, but it makes torrenting a lot more accessible than it’s traditionally been — and that gives Netflix reason to worry.
To drive its point home, Netflix points to a Google Trends graph, based on information collected in the Netherlands, which compares the popularity of searches for Netflix, HBO, and Popcorn Time. The graph indicated that the popularity of Popcorn Time has risen significantly over the past six months, with searches for the app now on par with Netflix and far above HBO. Netflix described the data as “sobering”.
In the letter, signed by Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings and CFO, David Wells, Netflix opines that piracy—not HBO or Hulu—is the real enemy. “Piracy continues to be one of our biggest competitors,” they wrote.