Official study shows piracy doesn't affect movie box office

[CaseAgainstFaith]

A new academic paper by researchers from the University of Minnesota and Wellesley College has examined the link between BitTorrent downloads and box office returns. Contrary to what’s often claimed by the movie industry, the researchers conclude that there is no evidence that BitTorrent piracy hurts US box office returns. Internationally, there is a link between downloads and revenues, which the researchers attribute to long release windows.

With their unconditional support for SOPA, PIPA and ACTA, Hollywood is pressing hard for new legislation to curb piracy. The studios want ‘rogue’ websites to be censored and are calling on Google and Internet providers to take responsibility.

However, a new study reveals that movie industry itself has the key to decreasing piracy, without passing any news laws.

In a paper titled ‘Reel Piracy: The Effect of Online Film Piracy on International Box Office Sales’ researchers from the University of Minnesota and Wellesley College examine the link between BitTorrent piracy and box office returns. As hypothesized, they find that international movie piracy losses are directly linked to the delay between US and foreign premieres.

In other words, the longer it takes before a movie is released internationally, the more box office revenues are impacted through piracy.

“We find that longer release windows are associated with decreased box office returns, even after controlling for film and country fixed effects. This relationship is much stronger in contexts where piracy is more prevalent: after BitTorrent’s adoption and in heavily pirated genres,” they write.

“Our findings indicate that, as a lower bound, international box office returns in our sample were at least 7% lower than they would have been in the absence of pre-release piracy.”

Aside from their conclusion that a lack of availability is fueling piracy, the researchers report a perhaps even more interesting result. Contrary to what the MPAA and other lobby groups claim, the study doesn’t find a negative effect of BitTorrent piracy on US box office revenues.

“We do not see evidence of elevated sales displacement in US box office revenue following the adoption of BitTorrent, and we suggest that delayed legal availability of the content abroad may drive the losses to piracy,” the researchers write.

The above means that movie pirates in the US wouldn’t have bought a ticket at the box office if file-sharing was nonexistent. Only international box office sales see a piracy related decline in revenue, which is attributed to long release windows, something the industry itself can address.

source - https://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-piracy-doesnt-effect-us-box-office-returns-study-finds-120210/

*Listens for the MPPA/RIAA BAAAWfest*   I bet they stick their fingers in their ears and go "lalalalalalala" to these facts. 

[Lithp]

Words cannot express how shocked I am.

If that ridiculous argument were true, just about every big movie that's been released in the past few years would be a Box Office Bomb.

[Smurfette Principle]

And absolutely no one was surprised.

[m52nickerson]

1. If someone is not willing to buy a ticket they should not get to see the movie.

2. If the move industry what long delays between releases around the world that is their prerogative, no on has a right to content.

[Lithp]

Oh Lordy. Talk about missing the point.

1. The general rule is that piracy does not affect sales. That's the whole point of the article. The "controversial issue" they're cringing over does not exist. And even if it did, your logic has a problem, in that someone who watches a movie on DVD with a friend hasn't paid for it either.
2. If they want to sabotage their own business over problems that should not concern them, that is their right, yes. It is not their right to push radical legislation on everyone else to protect their irrational bullshit. Which is what they're doing.

[Jack Mann]

1. If someone is not willing to buy a ticket they should not get to see the movie.

2. If the move industry what long delays between releases around the world that is their prerogative, no on has a right to content.

I agree that they shouldn't pirate the movies.  However, the problem is that nothing the movie industry is doing actually addresses the issue of declining sales.  Basically, sending someone to prison for five years will not end piracy.  Even if piracy was ended, it wouldn't fix sales.  The movie industry has been casting this in the light of, "We have to do this to survive!" when it won't help them survive, and they're not doing anything that will work.

And even though I agree that piracy is wrong, I think that thousands of dollars is way too steep a penalty.  They cheated the theater out of fifteen, twenty dollars.  Take that much, or twice if you're feeling really vindictive.  Fine.  But since it's not going to fix the problem, there's no reason to have the super-steep penalties besides spite.

[Witchyjoshy]

1. If someone is not willing to buy a ticket they should not get to see the movie.

2. If the move industry what long delays between releases around the world that is their prerogative, no on has a right to content.

Perhaps you might want to read through the thread again, because no one said anything that was pro piracy.

Facts speak for themselves.  The fact is that piracy is not harming movie revenue directly.  The movie makers may have the right to long delays, but it doesn't change the fact that it costs them a loss of projected revenue.  Because the audience has the right to not show up for the movie.

The facts are not pro-piracy or pro-capitalism.  The facts are simply that movie makers are going about this the completely wrong way.

You can state your ideals all you like, but at the end of the day, all you've done is state your ideals.  And what the MAFIAA is doing right now is not only not working, but it's wasting money that could be better spent taking actual steps to prevent piracy.

But then, the MAFIAA loves to overblow just how much piracy costs them anyways.

[m52nickerson]

The study found that piracy does indeed reduce international revenues.  It is true that the movie industry can reduce the time between releases to help prevent this, but why should they have to?

I agree that the legislation that has been pushed forth is overblown.  It has been shown that it is not really needed with the recent take down of MegaUpload.

Even if it is shown that piracy does not cost the industry a single penny they still have the right to want to stop it. 

[Shane for Wax]

Maybe if they didn't cost an arm and a leg to go to even a regular matinee.

[DasFuchs]

It's not the movie prices I have an issue with, it's the snack/beverage stand that I hate and their near FAA pat down to make sure you're not bringing in anything you didn't pay triple or more the price it's worth

[Her3tiK]

It's not the movie prices I have an issue with, it's the snack/beverage stand that I hate and their near FAA pat down to make sure you're not bringing in anything you didn't pay triple or more the price it's worth

Studios make their money off of ticket sales. Theatres make their money off of snacks. It's kind of a no win for the general public.

[Servo]

Cheapest movie ticket I paid for was at Singapore, SG$8 = US$6.34 for Kung Fu Panda 2.

I wish movie tickets around here were even just a few bucks more than $7. (A standard adult ticket is $18)

You'll never stop priacy, though. There'll always be someone who pirates just for the hell of it.

[Shane for Wax]

It's not the movie prices I have an issue with, it's the snack/beverage stand that I hate and their near FAA pat down to make sure you're not bringing in anything you didn't pay triple or more the price it's worth

What kind of movie theaters are you going to? O.o none of the theaters I've gone to pat you down or anything of the sort (not even searching bags) Unless you're engaging in hyperbole.

[RavynousHunter]

My level of surprise on reading this?  Its in the negatives.

[Da Rat Bastid]

It's not the movie prices I have an issue with, it's the snack/beverage stand that I hate and their near FAA pat down to make sure you're not bringing in anything you didn't pay triple or more the price it's worth

What kind of movie theaters are you going to? O.o none of the theaters I've gone to pat you down or anything of the sort (not even searching bags) Unless you're engaging in hyperbole.

Same here with my local theater.  As long as you're being even remotely discreet about bringing anything in, they don't give a shit.