The Wall Street Journal is reporting that an 18-month study completed in 2005 by LEK Consulting, LLC has found that lost sales from piracy of DVD movies and downloads totals some $6.1 billion a year, a figure 75 percent higher than previous industry estimates. (The Wall Street Journal is a subscription service, but the site is currently publicly accessible for 10 days.)
Although the study was completed some months ago, its results have been withheld due to inter-studio debate. According to the article, the MPAA commissioned the study to provide evidence of how much money the studios were losing to piracy every year, but some executives were alarmed at how high the figures turned out to be. The numbers raised fears that releasing the information would only serve to show how ineffective the industry’s ant-piracy efforts have been.
The MPAA has yet to comment publicly on the study.
The LEK’s survey methodology differed from previous MPAA efforts, and reportedly shows Mexico is the largest market for pirated movies, rather than Russia or China. The study was also the first to attempt to account for Internet-related losses, and finds studios lose the most money in the home video market rather than theatrical distribution.
