Film market in the World
Motion pictures are watched in theatres near you. Movies, however, are increasingly distributed through other channels, and thus exposure to film content is vastly underestimated if limited to movie theatre attendance. In the US, for example, feature films are viewed seven times more often on DVD than in theatres.
In 2006, US$ 24 billion was spent on recorded movies, for sale or rent, in the US alone. This amount nearly equals the global motion picture industry’s total theatre box office revenue of US$ 26 billion. In 2005, Western Europe spent US$15 billion on DVDs (27% of global spending) and Japan spent US$ 9 billion (16%). Europeans purchased 657 million DVDs and rented DVDs 753 million times. In comparison, 926 million cinema tickets were sold in Europe in 2006. Annual DVD sales per DVD-equipped household were highest in Ireland, the UK, Belgium and Norway (9.9–11.5 videos), while DVD rentals were highest in Ireland and Croatia (20 videos per household).
DVD usage in other regions of the world is unknown, but is likely to be extensive as well. Recorded sales do not, however, tell the entire story. An industry-sponsored 2005 survey of more than 20 countries concluded that piracy – legally reproduced DVDs and unlicensed Internet downloads – cost the global motion picture industry US$ 18 billion in cinema ticket sales and DVD sales and rentals. Pirates were reported to occupy an estimated 90% of China’s film and DVD market; more than 75% of the markets in Hungary, Russia and Thailand; more than 60% of the markets in Mexico and Poland; 25% or more of the markets in India, Italy and Spain; and 7% of the market in the United States. Films are also a staple of cable and satellite services. There were 350 million cable households worldwide in 2004, 25% of which are in the Asia-Pacific region, and the number is growing rapidly. In addition, market analysts project 100 million digital satellite households worldwide in 2008 and more than 400 million broadband Internet subscribers by 2010.
