Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/202202 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Institute for Prospective Technological Studies Digital Economy Working Paper No. 2015/01
Publisher: 
European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Seville
Abstract: 
Taking down copyright-infringing websites is a way to reduce consumption of pirated media content and increase licensed consumption. We analyze the consequences of the shutdown of the most popular German video streaming website - kino.to - in June 2011. Using individual-level clickstream data, we find that the shutdown led to significant but short-lived declines in piracy levels. The existence of alternative sources of unlicensed consumption, coupled with the rapid emergence of new platforms, led the streaming piracy market to quickly recover from the intervention and to limited substitution into licensed consumption. Our results therefore present evidence of a high elasticity of supply in the online movie piracy market, together with relatively low switching costs for users of copyright infringing platforms. The fact that the post-shutdown market structure was much more fragmented - and therefore more resistant to future interventions - further questions the effectiveness of the intervention.
Subjects: 
Anti-Piracy Intervention
Copyright
Movie Industry
Natural Experiment
JEL: 
K42
L82
O34
O38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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