TORONTO – The federal government’s new Copyright Act could open millions of Canadians to huge lawsuits, the reality, most Canadians don’t think it will have any impact on Internet downloading.
This according to new research from Toronto-based Solutions Research Group (SRG) which found 80% of Canadians believe the copyright rules will have “no or slight impact on Internet users behaviour.” In fact, 68% of those polled weren’t even aware there was a new Copyright Act.
SRG research also reveals that:
– 55% of Canadians do not see copyright reform to be relevant to them
– 36% of Canadians downloaded music last month, but only 9% paid
– 16% downloaded movies last month, only 3% paid
Movie and TV show downloads have finally came to Canada via iTunes and Bell Video store – but who will pay to buy? SRG research says not many people. While one can argue that these are early days for download-to-buy video content, most Canadians think that $14.95 price point for downloadable movies is poor value for money. Only 11% agree that "paying $14.95 to download a brand new movie from iTunes or a similar site is good value for money." When looking at a lower price point of $9.95, agreement goes up marginally to 17%.
An explosion in the availability of live and on-demand web video as well as TV content online for free is driving down value perceptions for the video category overall says SRG. The numbers point in the direction of sponsored content as the dominant future business model, with paid downloads playing only a niche role.
SRG says it projects little market potential for paid video downloads, representing less than 1.5% of overall video market in Canada in the next 18 months.
Solutions Research Group tracks the evolution of the digital consumer every quarter via Fast Forward Quarterly in Canada and Digital Life America in the U.S. The Q2 2008 research was conducted at the end of June and early July 2008 – Canadian market interviews were conducted among 1,000 online Canadians (aged 12 and up) using a professionally-managed national online panel.
