Pricing of Video Downloads

There are certain things that are holding the video download industry back. Over one in three respondents expressed concern about the quality of downloads, the limitation of platforms for viewing content, the price (no cheaper than buying hard copy), and the lack of availability of content. A combination of these things is bound to hold the whole industry back. Advertising and marketing for the video download industry needs to stress that a lot of these faults have been eliminated (which they have!)

Males are much more worried about price and quality than females. 45% of males said that quality of downloads were not high enough, compared to only 32% of females, and 38% of males claimed that it was no cheaper downloading content on-line, as opposed to only 27% of females.

Those from the lowest social class (DE) have the greatest fear of deleting content. Whilst only 25% of those from the highest social class are concerned about losing / deleting the content by mistake, this is much more important for those from the lowest social class (38%). For marketing purposes this is an interesting statistic, as one of the benefits of the video download market is the ability to own content and this needs to be stressed.

Pricing is obviously a key issue for consumers. Almost a quarter of those with internet access who download or would download would not pay to download a film that could be kept permanently, whilst almost 50% would only pay up to £5 for the film. When one considers the prolific DVD industry (which has recently brought down its costs but remains over £10 for new film releases) it is surprising that people are so reticent about buying on-line. People do not seem to consider some of the natural advantages of buying on-line films - lack of packaging, environmental benefits etc.

One incongruity within the statistics is that when asked what payment packages people would prefer when buying movies and other visual media downloaded from the internet, 15% (of those with internet access who download / would download) said that they would never buy movies or other visual media downloaded from the internet, whilst the same sample were asked how much they were willing to pay to download a movie that could be kept permanently, and 24% said that they would pay nothing. This difference could be attributed to people’s willingness to pay for other visual media (not movies), or the continued competition offered by the free / illegal download market.

The younger generation would be more likely to pay a high price to download a movie that could be kept permanently. 23% of 18-24 year olds would pay over £8 per movie, as opposed to 12% of 25-34 year olds, 13% of 35-44 year olds, 10% of 45-54 year olds and 7% of 55-64 year olds. This suggests that younger people have a more realistic idea of the price of video downloads. The 18-24 year olds were the only age group where over 30% would pay over £5 to download a movie to keep permanently. As this is likely to be the cost of a movie, particularly a new release, it shows that marketing needs to target this age range and educate the others as to the realistic cost of movie video downloads.