A confidential study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) puts annual losses from film piracy at $6.1 billion, nearly 75 percent higher than the $3.5 billion figure the industry had previously cited, according to the Wall Street Journal, which obtained the document Wednesday.
The research was carried out by LEK Consulting LLC over 18 months across 28 countries at a cost of $3 million. It was completed in 2005 to help the seven major studios within the MPAA better understand where piracy-related losses were occurring, but the organization chose not to release the findings publicly.
Mexico emerged as the single largest source of piracy worldwide, responsible for an estimated $483 million in lost revenue to MPAA member studios in 2005, surpassing China ($280 million) and Russia ($275 million), two countries that had long drawn the most anti-piracy attention. Losses within the United States alone totaled roughly $1.3 billion annually.
The figures account for both reduced theater attendance and declining DVD sales, a revenue stream the industry had relied on heavily in recent years. The MPAA's member studios include Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros., Universal Studios, Walt Disney Co., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and 20th Century Fox.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.