Most fans of online entertainment are already familiar with the benefits that a torrent can bring to their personal lives. Today’s torrents offer access to a range of content – both official and unofficial. They can allow you to access content from overseas and from channels showing the latest moves, shows and TV programmes. You’ll also find games and music to enjoy, and torrents can be used safely if you do pair the best torrent sites with the latest VPN technologies to guard your privacy and safeguard your online activities with data encryption.

But, when considering the best torrent sites (which are rated on VPNpro), have you ever thought about whether torrents can benefit your business too? Let’s take a look in closer detail.

Firstly, it’s worth remembering that, at its heart, torrenting simply exists to transfer files online. Yes, it’s associated with the sharing of entertainment content and its sometimes used to share pirated and copyrighted material (although we don’t condone this – our interest in the best torrent sites is to help provide our readers with the best information to make their own decisions.)

The fact that torrenting allows efficient file transfers on the internet – and that these transfers can be encrypted, secure and private when paired with a VPN, makes them immediately interesting from a business perspective.

How the torrent works

It’s easy. You find your torrent provider, sign up and then download your torrent file. We have regularly updated lists of the best torrent sites to make this step easy. Then, you’ll find files on offer from other torrent users – called seeders – who are willing and ready to share their file content with peer users. Once you’ve downloaded your chosen file, you feed it into your digital client, which will tell you what the file is and give you the location.

Instant file sharing to million

It’s possible to download certain files from peers, and the more peers sharing files, the quicker and easier it can be downloaded. This ‘bit by bit’ file sharing method makes it efficient to share data with potentially millions of internet users in mere seconds. (And yes, this is the same feature which makes piracy of copyright content such a problem.

Now, the association with pirate content has turned businesses off torrenting, but they are missing out on benefits as a result.

For example?

The main benefits of using a torrent for your business are:

1. The ability to give your customers exactly what they want

Consumers now expect to benefit from on-demand access. The media industries have been slow to catch up with this, and millions of viewers are now turning away from official channels as a result and looking at alternatives across the world (just think of those ancient re-runs at Christmas on the BBC when you next consider a review of the best torrent sites!)

Torrenting has already helped businesses such as Facebook and academic institutions to provide legitimate content. Yes, TV programmers don’t like it because they can’t advertise to viewers, but CBC in America is just one media company that has made a series available for BitTorrent download. By doing so, it has listened to what customers actually want.

CBC had the view that people had been finding ways to access content without subscriptions for years, and their research had found that these individuals tended to actually then pay more for subscriptions too. The Warner Bros. have also found that content piracy also tends to occur when customers can’t find what they want.

So if your business produces content of any kind – whether commercial, academic or non-profit – it could be time to consider a torrent.

2. Word of mouth

It’s hard to get your creative content seen by audiences through traditional and expensive routes, but torrenting can give you immediate access to a vast audience of motivated viewers. Research suggests that word of mouth is extremely powerful when sharing new and fresh content and also when reviving old and popular content. So again, businesses have the chance to think creatively about how they can create that marketing ‘buzz’ without needing to spend a fortune on traditional channels.

3. Data distribution

The core purpose of torrenting as a facility, this means your business can potentially distribute huge amounts of material to other users and save bandwidth in the process. From OS installs, image collections, business files or educational material, torrenting offers vast potential – and the best torrenting sites make it quick and easy to reap the benefits. It’s worth knowing that even Twitter and Facebook are using torrents internally for server updates!

4. Software downloads and updates

Businesses such as Blizzard Entertainment, the gamers, use torrenting to share updates, content and patches for their games. Linux ISOs are also offered for free via a torrent and tend to be more than a gig in size. Other free and open source providers are already promoting the best torrent sites as a means of downloading updates and products themselves to reduce server stress and to widen availability.

A word on VPNs

It is essential however for businesses to pair any torrenting plans with a robust VPN service to provide encryption, privacy and security against hackers. Today’s services offer superb levels of protection against threats on the internet, allowing businesses to benefit from the fascinating potential of torrents and to remain safe whilst doing so.

Ready to find out more about the best torrent sites? We’ve got you covered in our regularly updated review lists!

By Eddy

Eddy is the editorial columnist in Business Fundas, and oversees partner relationships. He posts articles of partners on various topics related to strategy, marketing, supply chain, technology management, social media, e-business, finance, economics and operations management. The articles posted are copyrighted under a Creative Commons unported license 4.0. To contact him, please direct your emails to [email protected].