Youtube, the Internet, and the Future of Movies

CITM102 – Case 3 – YouTube, the Internet, and the Future of Movies

1. The competitive forces that have challenged the movie industry are substitute products and new market entries. Substitute products and new websites such as YouTube and Netflix create a different and dynamic way for individuals to watch movies. With little to no control over the download of movies, purchase of recorded films and DVD’s, it is evident that movies are watched by many people that do not contribute to the movie industry’s revenues. This problem forces movie and television studios to take advantage of the available websites and movie download procedures, and turn them into revenue generating schemes. Studios are also beginning to regulate the distribution of films by using digital fingerprinting technology in partnership with YouTube.
2. Disruptive technologies have many impacts on the future success of current and old technologies. In the case of Napster; the movie industry’s main source of music, became obsolete as new music applications became available. More significantly, YouTube was a major disruptive technology to the motion picture industry. When YouTube was able to offer consumers the videos they wanted at any time, the motion picture industry was challenged. As older technologies lost their customer base, the new disruptive technologies such as YouTube took over the industry. After all, it’s much easier to click download and watch a movie rather than having to go leave the comfort of your room to watch the same movie.
3. The movie industry initially responded with lawsuits and copyright infringements against illegal material, but later realized YouTube could actually help with the fight against illegal uses. The problem was this fight was a battle that couldn’t be won due to the large numbers of users, so the movie industry had to compromise. On the other hand, the music industry decided to leverage their needs with producers and consumers. This move was a wise one because the movie industry realized they could use YouTube for promoting their movies. The movie industry can learn to compromise and partner with their competitors to gain some leverage in the race to success.
4. The most important thing to remember is that YouTube is the leading video-sharing website and it would be a mistake to let go of this resource for movie industries. The best thing would be to control how much of this website they utilize for their movies. If dealt with proactively, instead of reactively, movie industries can gain the most benefit from YouTube. They can put their short videos and clips to the website and with Google’s force behind YouTube, movie industries and YouTube both can benefit from this action.
5. Upon searching on YouTube, one can see that there are both advertisements for the movie, along with trailers, and few options to just buy the film searched. This means that YouTube, along with most video-sharing websites, have utilized advertisements for promotion of movies from the movie industry. However, it is important to note that illegal video-sharing has consequences for the website liable for the videos. It is essentially theft against the producers. Advertisements could also act as a way for users to get excited for the actual movie and thus, provides greater incentive for producers to use video-sharing websites to advertise their movies.