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Movie piracy and displaced sales in Europe: Evidence from six countries

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  • Herz, Benedikt
  • Kiljański, Kamil

Abstract

This paper presents estimates of lost movie sales due to unpaid movie consumption. We are the first to provide estimates that are representative of the internet-using population and cover multiple countries. Based on an online questionnaire with almost 30,000 respondents, we document that one unpaid (first) viewing of a movie displaces about 0.37 units of paid viewings. Using a back-of-the-envelope calculation, we show that this implies that unpaid movie viewings reduced movie sales in Europe by about 4.4% during the sample period. Lost sales differ substantially by country: they are in the range of 1.65% for Germany and 10.4% for Spain. We also document that 94% of lost sales are due to unpaid viewings by a small group of only 20% of consumers. This implies that well targeted policies have the most potential to prevent damages of movie piracy.

Suggested Citation

  • Herz, Benedikt & Kiljański, Kamil, 2018. "Movie piracy and displaced sales in Europe: Evidence from six countries," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 12-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:43:y:2018:i:c:p:12-22
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2018.02.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Wojciech Hardy, 2020. "Effects of piracy on the American comic book market and the role of digital formats," IBS Working Papers 01/2020, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    4. William M. Volckmann, 2023. "The effects of market size, wealth, and network effects on digital piracy and profit," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 61-85, February.
    5. Tomczyk, Łukasz, 2019. "The Practice of Downloading copyrighted files among adolescents in Poland: Correlations between piracy and other risky and protective behaviours online and offline," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    6. Hardy, Wojciech, 2021. "Displacement from piracy in the American comic book market," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    7. Jordi McKenzie, 2023. "The economics of movies (revisited): A survey of recent literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 480-525, April.
    8. Wojciech Hardy, 2022. "Brace yourselves, pirates are coming! the effects of Game of Thrones leak on TV viewership," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(1), pages 27-55, March.
    9. Peng, Shuxia & Li, Bo & Wu, Shuang, 2023. "Presence of piracy and legal protection: Decisions in the digital goods market under different contracts," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(2), pages 578-596.

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