MPAA piracy claims amount to $2,000 per pirate

Rich Fiscus
7 Sep 2011 15:59

Based on the latest MPAA claims, every person in the US who downloaded a movie illegally last year kept an average of $2,000 out of the economy.
That figure is based on claims from an infographic they released recently, suggesting illegal downloading in the US cost removed $58 billion from the economy.
The most obvious problem with their figures is the claim that money is being removed from the economy. In order for that to be true, money which would otherwise have been spent on movies can not be spent on anything else.

So why $2,000? It all comes down to simple math.
First they start with a figure of 29 million Americans downloading illegally.
Then they give a total figure of $58 billion lost.
$58 billion divided by 29 million people comes out to $2,000 per person. If you assume DVDs cost an average of $10 each, that means each one would have purchased 200 discs last year.
Just to put the total in perspective, in 2010 total box office receipts for the US and Canada combined totaled $10.6 billion. DVD & Blu-ray sales and rental combined with online video accounted for another $18.8 billion.
Even if you assume no one in Canada goes to the movies, that would mean the movie industry in America should have made twice as much money last year.
It shouldn't come as any surprise that MPAA piracy numbers are ridiculous, but when you put it into perspective it's still pretty stunning to see just how big their numbers are.