The majority of U.S. online consumers do not believe downloading movies illegally from the Web is a very serious offense, a research firm said Wednesday.
A survey by the Solutions Research Group found that most consumers suffered from the “Robin Hood effect,” when it came to stealing copyrighted movies from online peer-to-peer networks. “Most people perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already, and as a result don’t think of movie downloading as a big deal,” study director Kaan Yigit said in a statement.
The majority of all digital content will be distributed over the Internet in the near future, and while that process is well under way in the music business, 2007 will see the TV and movie industries get much more aggressive bring their properties to the internet. Forecasts show that US consumer spending on digital music, movies and TV, which was $1.3 billion in 2005, will approach $7.8 billion in 2010, according to a report done by eMarketer.
In 2006, iTunes successfully expanded its product line to include TV and movie downloads, and with Amazon and AOL opening their own digital download stores, the paid content market is set to rapidly grow. While a growing amount of Internet users are paying for digital content, that number still represents only a small fraction of the Internet users who regularly view or listen to online multimedia content.In addition to the billions of dollars that will be spent by consumers in the coming years on digital music, TV and movies, rich media advertising will also expand rapidly over the forecast period. According to recent data from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), 11% of recorded music sales in mid-2006 were digital downloads or subscriptions (including mobile music), up from 5.5% at the end of 2005 — double the rate in only six months.
Netflix announced today that it is launching a movie download service with 1,000 titles. Even though they are later to the game, I believe they will do well. They have great brand recognition and strong consumer loyalty - far above most of the competitors - Let’s see how that stacks up against the competition:
1. Vongo - offers over 1,000 movies - subscription service for $9.99 per month - currently offering a 14 day free trial.
2. CinemaNow - offers over 1500 movies - they seem to be trying a little of everything to see which model works best - available to purchase for digital playback, rent and burn to disc. There’s a small catlaog of films available to stream fro free with advertising. They also offer a subscription service - all you can eat for $29.95 per month or $99.95 for a year - currently offering a 7 day free trial
Online sales of TV shows, movies and other prerecorded video will become a billion-dollar business in 2007, according to Strategy Analytics. While video download sales made through Apple’s iTunes store and other sources totaled just $300 million in 2006, by the end of 2007 the market will grow to $1.5 billion. By 2010, global revenue from online video sales, rentals and subscriptions will surge to $5.9 billion, and account for eight percent of total home video industry revenues. 2007 will be remembered as the year in which online sales of prerecorded video finally become a real business, just like with music, online delivery of video content is now emerging as a viable and increasingly important distribution channel for content owners. Along with broadband growth and consumer demand, online video sales will also be spurred by a growing number of distributors and payment models. While Apple’s iTunes store is the leading source for paid video downloads today, other major players such as Wal-Mart, Time Warner, and NetFlix are expected to enter the market in the near future. Although pay-to-own downloads account for most online video revenues today, other payment models will become a significant part of the market over time. By 2010, projections show that rentals and subscription-based services will account for about one quarter of annual online video sales to consumers. KENRADIO.COM
I always find it interesting in the projections of new media revenue (like the story below) that no one talks about the fact that this isn’t additive revenue - the discretionary entertainment expense pie isn’t growing - the consumer isn’t spending more dollars. As exciting as it is to consider such incredible growth in digital media spending, one has to take into consideration that this will mean a reduction in the purchasing of CDs, less in theatre movie viewing, less premium cable subscriptions - you could also extend this to less spending in other semi-related areas including apparel, dining out and other discretionary expense products and services.
With a plethora of consumer gadgets presented at CES, it’s dizzying. But the big question is what type of content will they deliver? Bambi Francisco interviews Daniel Ernst of Hudson Research who expects to hear content announcements at CES.
January 5, 2007 · In: Console Gaming | Gaming Trends It looks like Microsoft has found success in a new area of digital downloads. Months after the successful deployment of Xbox Live Arcade, Variety reports the digital download service for movies on Xbox Live is outperforming the world’s largest e-tailer, Amazon.com. As the “battle for the living room” heats up, Microsoft has been consistently positioning the Xbox 360 as the device to beat for bringing all forms of entertainment to consumers, and has designed an accessible program for locating and downloading content digitally–a keystone of future market success.
The sales success, while due largely to the fact that movies and TV shows can be downloaded and watched on a television versus a computer monitor, can also be attributed to the popularity of the high definition format, which only Warner Bros. currently supports. “If you look at our sales charts, movies like ‘The Perfect Storm,’ ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘Swordfish’ are all doing disproportionately better than you would expect, and the only explanation is that they’re available in HD,” said Ross Honey, senior director for media in Microsoft’s content and partner strategy group. For more details: - read Variety’s report
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Netflix announced 
