DVD Release Delays Boost Piracy and Hurt Sales, Study Shows (torrentfreak.com)

One of the reasons that drive people to piracy is the delay in the release of a title's DVD or Blu-Ray in their local market. According to a new academic paper from Carnegie Mellon University, movie fans are finding it increasingly difficult to wait for the official DVD or Blu-Ray to come out. From a TorrentFreak report: Due to artificial delays which vary across different parts of the world, pirates can often get their hands on a high-quality rip of a movie before the DVD is officially released in their country. Researchers have looked into this piracy "window of opportunity," and found that release delays are actually hurting DVD and Blu-Ray sales. "Our results suggest that an additional 10-day delay between the availability of digital piracy and the legitimate DVD release date in a particular country is correlated with a 2-3% reduction in DVD sales in that country," the researchers write.

Comments

Re:Really?

[The MAZZTer]

It's good to have a formal study done that can be cited, rather than just a theory or anecdotes.

Instead of delays, decrease price

[Aqualung812]

I don't understand the delays. Just sell it HIGH right out of the gate.
Make movies something crazy like $60-$80 on opening weekend. Grab all that extra profit while the hype is high and plenty of families with great home theater and 2.5 kids that they don't want to pay concessions for consider it a win-win.
Drop it by $10 or so every month or so, until they're $20 at the same time they're available now.
Why do they hate money so much?

Re:Instead of delays, decrease price

[StormReaver]

I don't understand the delays. Just sell it HIGH right out of the gate.

I can't believe we have to have this particular discussion...again. Hopefully studios have learned the lessons of history, so they won't be doomed to repeat them.

Studios tried selling movies that high ($80-$100) in the beginning. Few movies were purchased, but many were copied from rentals. This was a predictable result of price gouging.

When studios lowered the prices to something reasonable ($15-$25), VCR (and later, DVD) movie sales skyrocketed and illegal copying was greatly reduced. Illegal copying then ticked back up after people got fed up with the stupid shit studios put in there to delay showing the movie people paid for (ads, previews for things nobody gave two shits about,etc).

High prices lead to reduced sales, and a large lag time between theatrical release and home release leads to reduced sales. This was obvious to everyone except, apparently, the studios.

The optimum sales revenue will likely be generated by releasing the DVD (few people give a shit about Blu-Ray) either simultaneously with the theatrical release, or sometimes shortly afterwards (a few weeks, maybe).

Re:Business Decisions Based on Economics

[swb]

My economics question is why back catalog movies which have been released on disc can't be purchased as downloads. I mean, the movie has already been telecined to a data format and often the DVD press runs for back catalog titles are small and the movie can sometimes become unobtainable at all except as a bootleg.

Which raises the question as to why studios make it so expensive for Netflix or the like streaming companies to gain access to back catalog titles. I'm guessing these titles aren't exactly burning up the sales charts and that a budget licensing deal for streaming on back catalog title to a streaming provider would be revenue they mostly wouldn't expect to get from a DVD. There's a ton of back catalog titles I'd watch on via streaming if they showed up on Netflix but only about once a year do I get the bug to buy a disc, and even then it's often a case where you can't even buy it because the tiny press run is sold out.

Re:FUCK EUROPE

[Plus1Entropy]

Look, I don't necessarily agree with the GP, but your point is just as stupid. Don't pretend that just because Europe has had its shit together for a few decades gives it the right to lord it over the rest of the world. History didn't begin yesterday.

The only reason Europe is at peace now is because it fought a war so unbelievably terrible that it all but destroyed itself. And it had to happen twice in less than a few decades, because they couldn't learn their lesson the first time. WWII might have been avoided if the European Allies had followed Wilson's 14 Points during the peace negotiations following WWI, and during the founding of the League of Nations. Instead, they did exactly the opposite and sowed the seeds of the next conflict with the Treaty of Versailles. Not to mention all the other terrible things that came as a result of the League, such as the Mandate system, which is at least partially responsible for the state the Middle East is in today.

The kind of nonsense you're spouting is basically the "white man's burden", the bullshit justification used by Europe for colonizing and subjugating people around the world. It's fine to uphold the virtues of modern Europe, but don't do so by repeating the rhetoric of the 19th Century.

Re:Because people are selfish and lack control

[tepples]

The fact they're not even going to pay for the product doesn't matter.

I have money. Where in the United States can I buy a lawfully made DVD of the film Song of the South?

I have money. Where in the United States can I buy a lawfully made DVD of the film Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night?

I have money. Where in the United States can I buy a lawfully made DVD of the TV series Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea?