How Pirates Can Save the Home Movie Industry (And Why Netflix is its Future)

How Pirates Can Save the Home Movie Industry (And Why Netflix is its Future)
Source: Techi
by Navneet Alang
Feb 16 2011

Unlike other ‘old media’ establishments like newspapers or the music industry, the movie business has been hit less dramatically by the rise of the web – despite the fact that piracy is rampant.

Even though revenues from DVD sales have continued to decline, box office receipts have, at the very least, kept up with inflation. Unlike the catastrophic losses at places like Universal Music, people who make films are still doing relatively okay.

But that’s not to say there isn’t trouble ahead. In fact, as Paidcontent reports a recent study put out by PriceWaterhouseCooper suggests the movie biz might be in some serious trouble. Pirates, it tells us, are willing to pay no more than $3 for a downloadable movie and no more than a buck for a TV show.

So much for those plans to charge $20-25 a pop to watch a movie on VOD a month or so it comes out in the cinema.

But despite the doom and gloom of the Paidcontent article, there’s a silver lining here: the movie industry can learn from how pirates think. And in doing so, they just might be able to save – if not entirely preserve – their massive, lucrative business.


Why the Biz Went 'Wrong' (And How Pirates Got it Right)

Movies – particularly their pricing – have always been based on the perceived value of an experience. A movie was worth 5 bucks to see at the cinema – then 10 bucks, now (in some places like New York) even as high as fifteen. People were happy to spend that money not just because it was the only way to do it, but because the experience of a big screen, a communal atmosphere and fancy surround sound made it worth it. It was a night out with friends.

One cannot make the argument that watching movies at home changed this, because box office revenues went up with the advent of the DVD.

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