Did closure of piracy-haven Megaupload lead to a decrease in cinema ticket sales??
Megaupload was a haven for movie pirates before its closure at the beginning of the year. One would therefore expect that, following the authorities shutting the site down, ticket sales at cinemas would go up, right?
Apparently not. A new report from the Munich School of Management and Copenhagen Business School suggests that the closure of Megaupload actually led to less people than usual visiting their local multiplex.
Ticket sales were found to be slightly lower than usual following the site’s closure.
The report suggests that sites like Megaupload lead to a wider number of viewers for films, which in turn increases the useful circulation of word-of-mouth internet recommendations, which can be particularly useful for movies without mighty Hollywood marketing budgets behind them. As a result, the study found that it was indeed smaller indie flicks that were hit hardest by the drop in cinema ticket sales.
Movie piracy, like all forms of piracy, is of course not to be encouraged. But it’s interesting to see how, in some cases, it’s not a wholly damaging act.
Via: Torrent Freak
