Film downloading: audience attitudes and behaviour project

Year 1

By the end of year one the student will deliver to industry partners:

• Initial data and analysis of the illegal download market and official home entertainment market through box office figures and illegal download charts;
• analysis of the development of anti-piracy campaigns and legislation with a focus on the US and UK but also recognition of other emerging markets;
• a plan for audience research to be conducted in year 2, including details on methodologies (questionnaires and focus groups) and sample recruitment.

Year 2

By the end of year 2 the students will deliver initial findings from questionnaire and focus group research on:

• downloading habits (both legal and illegal) across core market demographics (male and female, aged 16-35);
• why audiences continue to value illegally downloaded content;
• whether and how audiences are affected by anti-piracy campaigns and legislation.

Year 3

By the end of year 3, the student will deliver the full project and its findings. This will include recommendations on how to:

• Identify which film content is most likely to be made available for illegal downloading in the UK which market segments is most likely to download such content, in order to determine where anti-piracy strategies should be focused;
• design legal downloading services and content distribution patterns that replicate what is valued about illegal services and, as a consequence, limit the damage of illegal downloading by encouraging illegal downloaders to use legal services instead;
• design public information campaigns in order to maximise their effectiveness in combating illegal downloading and promoting copyright ownership.