Hollywood's Unfounded Fear Of New Products
from the be-afraid dept
The history of the entertainment industry is littered with new products and technologies it has resisted that have later turned out to be money-spinners. For Hollywood's movie studios, nothing illustrates this point better than video tapes and DVDs. Jack Valenti, the onetime head of the MPAA, made the famous quote that VCRs would be the "Boston Strangler of the movie industry" -- but it went on to create a booming new business for the studios, while their claims about the DVD were similarly unfounded. Hollywood has a terminal resistance to new products based on the unrealistic fear that any new product will cannibalize the sales of an existing one. But this isn't the case -- for instance, a new study shows that people who watch movies on video-on-demand services buy just 0.1 fewer DVDs per year now than before they used VOD -- hardly making it out to be a sales killer -- and rent, on average, just 11 percent fewer movies. While the figures aren't totally complete, it sounds as if people who use VOD don't just replace their other movie spending with it, they add to it. Hollywood doesn't want to accept any cannibalization of existing products -- perhaps part of the reason things like their movie download services are so bad -- even if that new product can raise overall sales. The movie industry is caught in a rut, with a strategy of simply trying to maintain its existing sales, rather than trying to grow its business with new and innovative offerings.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Requirement for MPAA membership
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
btw:1st post
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What's that about a math course
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
1st posting morons
HAHAHAHAHA WHAT a Mor0n!1!!1!
Thats what you id10ts get for thinking you are special for being the first person to post to a new story.
At least you had something to actually say though, better than most losers who think 1st posting is impressive.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: 1st posting morons
ya i doubt this is going to stop anytime soon (hollywood resisting new technologies) but hopefully they dont stop future innovation too much >:(
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Grow The Business?
Why do that? Maybe those of us over 30 - way over 30 - might actually want to see movies that appeal to our demographic, not the endless drivel aimed at the 14 - 22 y/o group.
And we might even PAY to see something good. Is this so hard to figure out?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Grow The Business?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
exceptions proving the rules.
The two times I can think of when the entertainment industry has been hurt most by tech are Eight Tracks and Betamax - both technologies that FAILED! It seems to me that, since the only time they get hurt is when a new technology DOESN't Succeed, they would try to ENCOURAGE the success of anything that hits the scene with enough force to make a splash.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: exceptions proving the rules.
Every time a media format fails, the fans have to buy the media again in the successor format.
A failing media format is murder onmt he companies producing the raw media. But its a godsend to the sellers of the content.
(This is where fair use is supposed to save the consumer by allowing the consumer to platform shift, but drm has banned the consumer from being able to exercise that right)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
shouldn't the mpaa be happy?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
nhikcsrg pwozh
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
about sites
http://justnewmovies.com
http://cinemabusters.info
[ link to this | view in chronology ]