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Author Topic: File Sharing's Impact On Movies Is Modest At Most Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 07-14-2014 02:58 PM                        This was just posted on Slashdot What is the impact of file sharing releases on the movie industry? Ask the studios and they will say billions. An economist named Koleman Strumph is presenting a paper at the National Bureau of Economics this week that tries to estimate the crowd out from these releases. His conclusion: "I find that file sharing has only a modest impact on box office revenue." In fact, Strumph finds that file sharing before the official release of a movie can actually be beneficial to revenues: "One consistent result is that file sharing arrivals shortly before the theatrical opening have a modest positive effect on box office revenue. One explanation is that such releases create greater awareness of the film. This is also the period of heaviest advertising. In conjunction with the main estimates, this suggests that free and potentially degraded goods such as the lower quality movies available on file sharing networks can have some beneficial effects on intellectual property." Link to the paper (PDF file)  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-14-2014 08:55 PM                        The reason the studios say "billions" is because they assume that everyone who views a movie illegally WOULD have bought a ticket, had the illegal opportunity not been there -- which of course is silly. There are some losses to be sure, but obviously there's no way to quantify EXACTLY how many tickets would have been sold to those illegal viewers.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 07-14-2014 09:41 PM                     What they don't see is that the BIGGEST losses to boxoffice revenue is the short release window. When you tell people that you can "own" the movie in a few short weeks/months they you've cheapened the product. There is no sense of urgency about it all...what is the rush? No need to see that in the theatre...we'll catch it on cable/netflix...etc. You start making the home release AT LEAST a year away...then you'll see more attention being paid to the theatrical release and more hoopla on the eventual video release. You'll also see more of how much real theft is going on too.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-14-2014 10:42 PM                     Actually, file sharing brings more of a boost to the entire economy, as a whole, than movie companies claim they lose in box office revenue and home video sales. In order to share and display those files, people have to buy bigger, better and faster computers, displays, hard drives, RAM, speaker systems and network equipment. All that stuff costs money. The cost of all that bigger, better, faster equipment adds up to orders of magnitude more money than the studios claim they lose in tickets or sales.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 07-15-2014 10:09 AM                     Money that the studios don't see, Randy... unless everyone who is illegall downloading Amazing Spider-Man 2 is doing so on a Sony Vaio computer.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-15-2014 11:18 AM                     There is an equilibrium point where losses by the studios and gain by computer manufacturers produces maximum benefit for the economy. Reductio ad Absurdum: Therefore, if the studios resist the idea that there is a certain amount of file sharing which benefits all then they must be willfully trying to destroy the economy.  |  IP: Logged

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