Surprise of the day: BitTorrent users aren’t cheapskates

Next time some media exec complains about BitTorrent users hurting their profits show them this chart.

Based on a study by Frank N. Magid Associates and published by AdAge, it shows that users of BitTorrent client Vuze spend more than average on a wide range of media-related items from expensive TVs and games consoles to smartphones and PCs.

Now, this is money spent on hardware, not actual media, but with many of the biggest media companies having their feet in both the content creation and hardware businesses that might not be a bad thing. Maybe funding content creation through premium hardware sales isn’t a bad idea. After all, you can pirate a movie but you can’t pirate an HDTV to watch it on.