The belief that movie downloading is doing significant harm to the film industry is wide of the mark, if a new report from The Yankee Group is to be believed.
Unlicensed downloading is one of the reasons cited by recording companies for the current demise in music sales (see
Fall In US Music Sales Blamed On Internet Downloaders) and movie studios are now also on alert. Broadband connections, which allow large files to be downloaded quickly in the home, are largely responsible for the upsurge in copying (see
Broadband Driving Up Online Music Downloads) and distributors have yet to find a workable model for online sales.
According to a Yankee Group survey, 8% of US internet users aged 13 and over had downloaded at least one feature film in the three months before they were interviewed. Not surprisingly, those in the 13 to 24 age group made up the largest demographic segment (72%) of movie downloaders.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) estimates that piracy costs the US film industry more than $3 billion a year in lost revenues. Online copying is difficult to quantify and is not included in overall loss calculations. Nonetheless, it is assumed to have a derogatory effect on cinema attendances and video/DVD purchases.
However, judging from The Yankee Group’s Youth Market Study, it would seem that the impact of illegal downloading has been misappropriated. Some 88% of 13 to 17 year olds and 94% of those aged between 18 and 24 said they attend movies as frequently or more frequently than they did prior to downloading. By the same token, fewer than one in six respondents had cut back on buying or renting films and a fair proportion claimed to have upped their spending on cinema visits and pre-recorded movies.
The report concludes that contrary to Hollywood’s fears, the internet has the capacity to enhance market opportunities in much the same way that the video recorder did in the 1980s. It asserts that if it had not been for the emergence of rental and sell-through markets, many movie studios would have gone under by now. The onus is therefore on the industry to develop a profitable business model which embraces rather than censures the web.
| Behaviour Of US Movie Downloaders Since They Began Downloading Films |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
Go To The Cinema |
Rent Or Purchase DVDs/Videos |
| |
Age 13-27 |
Age 18-24 |
Age 13-27 |
Age 18-24 |
| More Frequently |
27% |
17% |
12% |
16% |
| The Same |
61% |
69% |
82% |
71% |
| Less Frequently |
13% |
14% |
6% |
13% |
| Source: The Yankee Group, June 2003 |
