Though the margin of error in the survey is unclear, and the methodology behind selecting survey respondents is shaky at best, the results nonetheless give some insight into what emerging TV trends may hold for the future of TV viewing habits in Australia.
According to a recent research study conducted by University of Sydney honors student Adam Zuchetti, 53% of respondents regularly download TV shows from the internet, most of them illegally.
The survey was completed by almost 800 respondents and was conducted on local Australian TV websites earlier this year.
The survey revealed some startling results for television execs , though not for the millions around the world who are regular users of the BitTorrent file-sharing program for their television programming.
The survey was conducted as part of his thesis, titled "The Downloading of Television Content from the Internet: Causes, Impacts and Outcomes.”
He writes:
 For my University Honours thesis in the Media and Communications Department of Sydney University, I am investigating the issue of TV downloading in Australia…that is, downloading television programs from the internet to watch for your own purposes rather than watching the programs via free-to-air television channels. As this issue has not yet been investigated in Australia (to my knowledge – by all means please do let me know if this is inaccurate!), and very little globally, I hope that this study will be important in establishing the extent to which TV downloading is occurring, whether it is likely to increase in occurrence in the near future, and what impact this will have on our commercial television networks and ultimately the way we watch television in the 21st Century.
As part of my investigation, I am conducting a survey of people who have/continue to download TV programs, to establish who are the people most likely to download; why these people download; which particular programs they download; and which sites they download from. Please note that even if you don't download at all, your contribution to this survey is still important
Your assistance in completing the attached survey would be very much appreciated, and will greatly help in gathering accurate statistics on the issue. The survey should take no more than approx 10 minutes to complete, and you will not be personally identified in the survey, so please be as honest as you can. Your participation in the survey is completely voluntary. Final results will be made available to you on this website at the completion of the study.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS SURVEY IS ONLY OPEN TO RESIDENTS OF AUSTRALIA AND SHOULD ONLY BE COMPLETED ONCE PER PERSON.
The final question on the survey asks whether you give consent for the information you have supplied to be used in the final collation of data. If you consent, please tick yes. If you do not consent, you are in effect withdrawing your survey from being included in the final results, and the information you provide will automatically be deleted.
The final question on the survey asks whether you give consent for the information you have supplied to be used in the final collation of data. If you consent, please tick yes. If you do not consent, you are in effect withdrawing your survey from being included in the final results, and the information you provide will automatically be deleted.
Should you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of the research, please contact the Sydney University Ethics Committee on (02) 9351 4474. If you wish to obtain more information on this project, or have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact myself, Adam Zuchetti, by email at adam@tvdownloadaust.net, or my thesis supervisor, Dr Gerard Goggin, by email at gerard.goggin@arts.usyd.edu.au
Thank you for your interest in this project.
Kind regards,
Adam Zuchetti
Honours Student
Department of Media and Communications, The University of Sydney
 The survey was comprised of some 22 questions, which varied from age and gender to methods and means of television viewing habits.
Here are some excerpts:
AGE: <18yo = 7%; 18-25yo = 54.25%; 26-40yo = 30.25%; 41-54 = 6.75%
GENDER: Male = 41.25%; Female = 58%
INCOME: <$50,000 = 70.75% >
15.75% said they downloaded a TV program at least once a week, 25.5% said twice or more, with 12% responding once a month, and 17.5% hardly ever.
(This means 53.25% regularly download TV programs if you agree with the study's methodology)
57.25% said they downloaded by episode, with 10.75% saying by series.
79.25% said they knew it was illegal to download TV shows from the internet in Australia without proper consent, and 19.25% claimed they were unaware. >
Upon discovering it is illegal, 1.75% said they stopped downloading, 8% said they reduced the amount, and an overwhelming 71% said they made no change.
When asked if a TV show became available for download, "...would you be prepared to pay for a legal, high-quality download of an episode of a TV program, as you now can with music files?" 53.25% said "yes," and 46.5% said "no."
83% use a DVR, or digital video recorder, to time-shift programs so they can watch at their convenience.
58.75% use traditional TV airing to watch their TV programs, with 21% downloading what they want from the internet.
Though the margin of error in the survey is unclear, and the methodology behind selecting survey respondents is shaky at best, the results nonetheless give some insight into what emerging TV trends may hold for the future of TV viewing habits in Australia.
The biggest thing to note is that we now live in a 24 hour, seven days a week world, where media consumption can no longer be bound by rigid time and place constraints. People want to enjoy their music and video files wherever they want, whenever they want it, and however they want it.
 People don't want to be told they have to sit down at an exact place at an exact time just to watch a TV show. They want to watch it on their own terms and the study, if anything, reflects this trend.
"People want more ways to access shows," Zuchetti, the study's author, notes. "'I can now get everything I want from channel BitTorrent, so the commercial networks are going to get what's coming to them' -- that is typical of what people are saying."
People are tired of watching shows when it's convenient for the networks, instead of when it suits them.
Now if only somebody would conduct a similar study here in the United States, I'm sure the results would be much more startling.
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