MPAA to Fight Online Movie Piracy with Aggregation and Search Site

Implications: 1. Motion Pictures Association of America site to link to any legal distributor such as Fandango, Xbox Live, Netflix, iTunes and Sony's PlayStation Store.      2.  Recent research conducted by the MPAA and Yahoo found that the internet plays a significant role in driving people to film.

Analysis:  In response to research that found consumers are having trouble differentiating between legal and illegal ways to watch and buy movies via the internet, on behalf of its studio members, the MPPA is developing a website that will assist users to find legally distributed movies. This new site will allow search by film title and other pertinent information, and then act as a portal/aggregator to provide options to purchase theatrical tickets, buy or rent the DVD/Blue-ray, legally download or stream the title, etc.
 
Recent research conducted by the MPAA and Yahoo found that the internet plays a significant role in driving people to film. 73% of movie goers research films online before going to a movie theater.  Moreover, moviegoers who research online are more likely to see a film on opening weekend, pay for more films and are more likely to watch a given movie multiple times.

Moreover, online revenue is expected to become an important revenue stream to the studios soon. With broadband speeds increasing from an average of 1.9 Mbps to 4.9 Mbps over the last 12 months, movie delivery to the TV set is now becoming a viable reality.  Revenues for online movie delivery are expected to increase from $118 million in 2007 to $254 Million in 2008 per Adams Media Research.  Furthermore, some studio executives expect that in 3 to 4 years online distribution will account for 10 to 15% of all home video sales and rentals which would equate to $2.5 billion to $ 4.5 billion in revenue by 2012.

Supporting the MPAA’s strategy to fight online piracy, all of the major film studios are expected to support the site which is likely to connect to any legal distributor in all windows of release such as Fandango, Netflix, iTunes, Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store.