Public Servant Lifestyle

A tiny number of downloaders are responsible for a £45 million loss in UK DVD retail sales alone, according to the latest piracy research.

Downloading of illegal films and television programmes has tripled in the last twelve months, according to research conducted for the British Video Association (BVA) But the research suggests that it is still only four per cent of the UK population who are actually illegally downloading film and TV material.

The report estimates 1.67 million people are downloading illegal film and TV files - compared to about 570,000 people last year. This is 50% more than was predicted following similar research from the video industry at the end of 2002.

£45 Million

The loss to the video industry during 2003 is calculated to be as much as £45 million in DVD sales alone.

The research, revealed in the newly published BVA Yearbook, was conducted by TNS, based on their Audio Visual Trak panel of 16,000 people aged between 12 and 74 years of age. TNS concludes: “Comparing the latest data with that gathered in 2002 demonstrates the growing menace of ‘free’ downloading to the music and video industries. Individuals involved in downloading music have nearly doubled in a year, while those involved in downloading film have tripled, albeit from a lower base.

“Film remains protected to a certain extent, but with downloading growing at such an enormous rate the industry cannot afford to be complacent. However, as highlighted by the research undertaken in 2002, there are several factors that reduce the impact on the retail market – quality issues being the major one.”

This refers to the fact that many think downloaded films do not offer sufficient quality, or can be downloaded quickly enough. But the growth in broadband penetration is changing all that.

Potential Threat

The research gives a clear profile of the average film/TV downloader:

They are young (younger than for music); nearly three quarters are under 35 and 67% are male. They are most likely to live in the South where there is better access to broadband.

They are more likely to shop on the Internet; indeed 67% are using the Internet 6-7 days per week and 31% buy DVDs (of which they will often have large collections) on-line.

The vast majority of downloading occurs at home (89%), although some download at a friend’s house, at university or work (3% each).

Lavinia Carey, Director General of the BVA, said: “The potential threat to the video industry from downloading is clearly enormous and there is no complacency about that. The film, TV and video industries are working closely to pre-empt the threat from on-line piracy. As long as we can continue to make our traditional product attractive and future on-line offers affordable and easy, we hope to avoid the worst of the damage.”

The 2004 BVA Yearbook reveals another record year for the industry, with a 61% increase in DVD sales as the format now represents 70% of the video market. Total sales were up from £2.05 billion to £2.42 billion – combined with rental transactions this provides a total retail value of £2.87 billion, making the video sector the biggest single leisure market for a second year in a row.

"Enormous Achievements"

In the Foreword to the Yearbook the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) Minister for Science and Innovation, Lord Sainsbury (pictured above), writes: “The video industry represents an ideal example of how an innovative product drives growth by offering improved quality for the consumer. But I am acutely aware that this successful and healthy industry could be very severely damaged if we do not work hard to keep the lid on intellectual property crime.

“The enormous achievements of the video sector ensure more and more is invested in new films, programmes and other innovative products to provide high-quality entertainment. Ensuring continued success is vital for consumers and the industry, and the DTI will give the sector the support it needs to remain at the frontier of innovation.”

For more information about campaigns to promote respect for intellectual property rights/enforcement issues and industry campaigns about the true costs of DVD and video piracy visit the following sites may be of use:

Piracy Is A Crime

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT)

PSP Ltd is not responsible for the contents of external websites.

More information available in Home Electric, Home Computing, Music, Film, DVD / Home Video