Netflix effectively killed torrenting's chances at truly reaching the masses. Most people weren't hooking a PC up to their TV. By the time little hackable streaming devices became popular Netflix had already fully taken over.
Yet Netflix and the movie industry itself hasn't been able to reduce torrenting by much, since the limited choice and fragmentation of movie licenses across a dozen services means that Torrent is still the best way to watch everything you want. Their greed, their loss.
If Spotify and Steam have reduced music and game torrenting by 99%, Netflix & co. reduced it by much less than that.
Most of my non-technical friends pay for one service or maybe two, everything else is on Popcorn Time.
> Yet Netflix and the movie industry itself hasn't been able to reduce torrenting by much,
They don't need to. Clearly streaming services have been and continue to be successful. This is not a zero sum game. Nerds who hate paying for stuff will always exist, but most people aren't going to hack a device or even download Kodi to their Fire Stick. These people are satisfied.
The old school movie studios definitely care a lot because they hate innovation, and they've definitely failed.
> Most of my non-technical friends pay for one service or maybe two, everything else is on Popcorn Time.
Sorry, you're still posting on Hacker News which has certain implications regarding the people you like hanging out with. Your non-technical friends are still unusual.