Piracy or promotion? The impact of broadband Internet penetration on DVD sales

ABSTRACT Digital computer networks represent a disruptive technology, with the potential to create or destroy economic value in established industries. These opportunities and challenges are particularly apparent in the movie industry, whose business model is driven by its ability to extract revenue from what are essentially information goods. On one hand, digital networks can create new and lower cost channels for studios to promote, sell, and distribute their content to paying customers. Having high speed access to the Internet might allow consumers to collect and exchange more information about movies they are interested in, might allow access to products that would not have been available in brick-and-mortar channels (Brynjolfsson, Hu, and Smith 2003), and might allow producers a more targeted channel to promote movies of interest to consumers. On the other hand, digital networks could harm movie studios economically. For example, broadband Internet access could create new entertai...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: IEPOL
• Authors: Michael D. Smith, Rahul Telang
• Keywords: Applied Computing, Broadband Internet, Broadband Internet Access, IEPOL 2010, Movie