MPAA admit error in piracy study

[nivi]

http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN2365001520080124

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - The major motion picture studios had egg on their faces Wednesday as they tried to explain to Congress and educators why a key number in a highly touted study of on-campus piracy was wrong.

A 2005 study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America "incorrectly concluded that 44 percent of the motion picture industry's domestic losses were attributable to piracy by college students," MPAA spokesman Seth Oster said Wednesday.

It turns out that only 15 percent of the industry's domestic losses were caused by college students, he said.

LEK, the firm that the MPAA had hired to do the survey, discovered the error when it was computing losses for the MPAA's 2007 study.

"We take this error very seriously and have taken strong and immediate action to both investigate the root cause of this problem as well as substantiate the accuracy of the latest report," Oster said.

The mistake, which MPAA sources said LEK attributed to a "data entry" error, has left the association scrambling to contain any damage it might cause to the studios' battle against piracy.

MPAA president and chairman Dan Glickman and other executives have used the 44 percent number in their arguments to get lawmakers to enact sanctions against an education community that has at times been reluctant to aid moviemakers' anti-piracy crusade.

When told of the mistake, Glickman was said to be apoplectic and began a review of the association's "relationship" with LEK. The MPAA also hired a third party to review LEK's numbers for the nearly finished 2007 report.

It is still full of . .. .. .. ., but slightly less so.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

I still say that before the study was started they already concluded that piracy was the main cause and did their reaserch around that. I refuse to read any statistic produced by a lobying group.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

I still say that before the study was started they already concluded that piracy was the main cause and did their reaserch around that.

You would likely be correct. The RIAA has a long history of making up figures to suit them.

 

[bhsup]

I just want to point out that it was the MPAA's own people that they hired that discovered the error, which the promptly released to the public.

 

[warpus]

It turns out that only 15 percent of the industry's domestic losses were caused by college students, he said.

How do they know that?

It's an assumption that every single piece of illegally downloaded music = lost sales, right?

 

[JollyRoger]

How do they know that?

It's an assumption that every single piece of illegally downloaded music = lost sales, right?

The assumptions made are likely more complex than that.

 

[Zelig]

And 15% is the total amount by college students, the amount by on-campus students is much lower.

But facts and figures can't dissuade the MPAA.

 

[skadistic]

They should just stick to hunting down 12 year old girls and suing them.

 

[JollyRoger]

They should just stick to hunting down 12 year old girls and suing them.

Might as well go after the mature end of the pirate class.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

I just want to point out that it was the MPAA's own people that they hired that discovered the error, which the promptly released to the public.

First of all the damage has already been done. They have probably used this statistic. Besides it is better to admit your own mistakes than to have some other guy create a scandal over it.