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Spending on Movies and TV Shows Declines Once Netflix Is Available, IHS Says

LONDON, UK (24 February, 2016) – IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), the leading global source of critical information and insight, today announced findings from its report measuring spend on movies and TV shows.

Highlights from the report from IHS Technology entitled “Did Netflix Kill the Physical Video Market?” follows:

·         Clear correlation between launch of Netflix and decline in video spending

·         Spending on Netflix does not make up the difference

USA spend declines

Before Netflix launched its streaming service in the USA in 2007, spending on buying and renting movies and TV series on disc was falling by an average of 1.2 percent a year. Since 2010, the year in which Netflix access became ubiquitous across the US consumer electronics sector, spending has fallen by an average of 10.3 percent a year.

“The data shows that Netflix’s entry into a market has a noticeable effect on consumer behaviour, even in countries where they already had access to other streaming video services,” said Helen Davis Jayalath, senior researcher at IHS Technology.

“Movies and TV shows are not only the biggest draw for Netflix subscribers, they are also the backbone of the home entertainment industry, generating 80 percent to 90 percent of the business in most countries.”

UK

In the UK, sales of movies on disc have more than halved since the first SVOD services launched in 2008, with the steepest annual decline (-14.5 percent) experienced in 2012, the year Netflix launched. The downturn in sales and rentals of TV series, traditionally an important genre in the UK market, has been even more significant. Not only have sales of box sets and other TV programmes on disc been falling by over 14 percent a year since 2012, but rentals of TV shows are down by almost 75 percent.

Mind the gap: Spending on Netflix does not make up the difference

“The year before Netflix launched its streaming service in the USA, consumers spent $20.9 billion buying and renting movies and TV content, the most ever recorded,” Davis Jayalath said, “But by last year, total spending on these two key genres, including via transactional and subscription VOD services, was down by 17 percent to $17.3 billion.”

In the UK, Netflix’s arrival in 2012 was pre-empted by Amazon’s 2008 investment in (and subsequent acquisition of) local Streaming Video on Demand (SVOD) service LoveFilm, which was already taking its toll on physical video spending.

“British consumers have taken Netflix and SVOD to their hearts,” Davis Jayalath said. “Last year, they spent £1.8 billion on buying and renting movies and TV content, more than 26 percent of which was generated by SVOD services.”

Despite this, total spending is still £82 million a year less than it was before Netflix launched and down over 20 percent (£474 million) since Amazon’s investment in LoveFilm effectively kick-started SVOD in the UK.

Australia and Japan: the last targeted rollouts?

The Australian market is similar to that of the US and the UK, so if Netflix puts the same emphasis on creating and acquiring local content, IHS expects it to be able to build a viable business. As seen in the US and UK, this is likely to negatively impact the physical sale and rental of movies and TV content.

“The key to success in Japan, however, is not US movies and TV shows, but domestic content,” Davis Jayalath said. “If Netflix can invest enough in original Japanese anime content to tempt consumers away from DVD rental it will have achieved something that has so far eluded not only the Hollywood studios but also a dozen other SVOD operators.”

About IHS (www.ihs.com)

IHS (NYSE: IHS) is the leading source of insight, analytics and expertise in critical areas that shape today’s business landscape. Businesses and governments in more than 140 countries around the globe rely on the comprehensive content, expert independent analysis and flexible delivery methods of IHS to make high-impact decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. IHS has been in business since 1959 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, IHS is committed to sustainable, profitable growth and employs approximately 8,600 people in 32 countries around the world.

IHS is a registered trademark of IHS Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. © 2016 IHS Inc. All rights reserved.

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