Devoted to show business and the entertainment industry

In a joint global survey by PA Consulting Group and the Motion Picture Association of America, it was found that not wanting to go to the movie theater itself, along with increasing competition for the time and money of consumers, are key factors in the decline of theater attendance.
 
In more bad news for the industry, they also found that the increasing number of entertainment options will continue the slide of movie attendance, and also of DVD sales. This is a result of the market fragmentation we talk about here at bizofshowbiz all the time. It's at least good that the industry is starting to understand that it will no longer be business as usual.

In an interesting finding, even though 73% of the respondents to the survey in the U.S. and 68% in Europe said they planned on spending about the same amount of time going to the movies, 60% of those that consumed a lot of movies, said that they planned on cutting back on watching in the theater.

Some of the reasons given for attending more movies was a reduction in price by 86%; another 62% said that they would go to see more movies if there was reserve seating available; and another 63% they would be more apt to attend if the usual menu of movie food was added to.
 
In the area of DVD consumption, whether through purchase or rental, 66% of those that spend the most said they planned on cutting back on rentals, while 58% said they will reduce purchasing.

When asked what the response would be if DVD prices were increased, 77% said that they would probably go to the theater rather than rent.

One vast shortcoming of the survey was that it seems that nothing about video downloads was asked about. That is a huge mistake if it wasn't.
 
Not only is the marketplace fragmentation continuing to have a profound effect upon the industry, but fragmented lives themselves, as people still struggle to find a healthy work/life balance.

It also seems that theater-going is being looked upon from the point of view of the overall experience, rather than simply going to watch a movie.

"This research reveals that Hollywood should reconsider how the movie- going experience is sold to the consumer," said Mike Hunter, a member of PA Consulting Group's management team. "We may be at a time when going to the movies should be more than just buying a ticket, purchasing an item from concessions, watching a film, and then going home. We may be entering an era where consumers want the movie-going experience to be more of an event rather than an occurrence."

Some savvy theater owners have already started to experiment with various different strategies to get more revenue from their standing buildings. This study confirms that movies will not be able to keep them in business over the long haul.

This report is brutal.