The film industry provides a myriad of interesting problems for economic contemplation. From the initial concept of an idea through production, distribution and finally exhibition there are many aspects to the film project and the film industry that present new and interesting puzzles worthy of investigation. Add to this the high level of data availability, and it is little wonder that an increasing number of researchers are being attracted to this industry. To date, however, there are no comprehensive surveys on the contribution of economists to this literature. This paper attempts to fill this void and unify what is known about the industry. It also identifies and discusses potential areas for new research.

Motion pictures, Survival, Word-of-mouth, Distribution strategy, L00, Z11,

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This study applies stated-preference choice experiments and accompanying surveys to examine how Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) has disrupted film and television consumption. We examine demand for a large set of traditional consumption alternatives, such as cinema and free-to-air TV, as well as newer internet-based subscription services, such as Netflix. We consider a range of alternative-specific product attributes-including price, viewing quality, and release delay-that allow us to quantify substitution effects and willingness-to-pay estimates. In addition, we also consider illegal viewing alternatives, with associated attributes related to (potential) punishment that inform on the efficacy of policy against digital piracy. Our primary results reveal that while some traditional alternatives remain important, consumers derive significant utility from SVoD, which provides a large surplus at current pricing. We also observe that marginal effects and willingness-to-pay estimates are sensitive to ex-ante interest in a film or TV series. Moreover, we provide evidence that consumers can be segmented in relation to (survey-reported) piracy experience, as well as perceptions of punishment risk and (industry) damage associated with piracy. We also find some evidence that increasing punishment probability and fines may discourage illegal consumption. Finally, we provide some validation of our results with a follow-up survey conducted six months after the experiment.