Two thirds of all films available online/German productions also greatly affected/Digital watermark could become the international standard

(Berlin, 12 July 2005) When do films become available online? Are successful films more susceptible to copyright theft than less successful ones? Where do the images come from, and the German soundtrack? Questions for which no answers were as yet available in Germany. The “Available-for-Download (AfD) study”, conducted for the first time by Partners 4 Management (P4M) and the RWTH Technical University Aachen, is an independent study whose objective it was to find neutral and methodologically significant facts concerning the topic of illegal copying of films. Among the aspects investigated were the film genre and the sources of images and soundtrack.

The film industry continues to focus on security measures such as the digital watermark developed by the Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Publication and Information Systems on behalf of the German film industry, which may now become the international standard. Online bootleg copies of films exposed: The academic study by P4M and the RWTH AachenIn the beginning was the wish to dispose of popular fallacies. For example, one objective was to determine whether it is true that only major Hollywood productions were affected, or only films with a large number of release copies. The AfD study examined all films released in German cinemas between October 2004 and March 2005. Wolfgang Greipl, co-initiator of the AfD study and managing director of P4M, explained: “To find bootleg copies on the Internet, we looked at all the relevant portals and file-sharing sites. We also consistently took into consideration ‘newer’ distribution channels such as Exeem, BitTorrent, and News Server, which allowed us to achieve a precise collection and evaluation of all bootleg copies available on the Internet.” The results speak for themselves: 2/3 of all cinema films are available online. Of these, 1/3 is available for download even before their cinematic release; the rest can be downloaded within the first few weeks after release. The assumption that only American films are affected is also disproved by the AfD study. Films from every country are being stolen. Available online were 94% of all American films and 40% of those produced in Germany. Films from Great Britain ranked third on this list. An interesting aspect: films with more than 500,000 viewers on the opening weekend are generally not available until after the cinematic release, while films seen by fewer than 100,000 on the opening weekend are usually available for downloading on the Internet even before they appeared in cinemas. The picture becomes even clearer when one compares the number of release copies. Regardless of their country of origin, films released in more than 100 copies are in effect always available online, and two thirds of all films that start with 30 to 100 copies are available. Even just under half of very small productions with fewer than 30 release copies are affected. Film distribution companies can influence when films become available online. Particularly security-conscious distributors manage – for example, with the help of heightened security measures, stricter preview procedures, by refraining from sending jury or press DVDs – to delay the online availability of their films until after the cinematic release. Other distributors, however, find up to two thirds of their films online even before their official opening date. And the quality of the downloads can generally be described as “good”. The images in 41% of the cases are from press screenings or jury versions (“screeners”); approximately half of bootleg films rely on images from DVDs from other countries or language regions. As far as German soundtracks for download bootlegs are concerned, two thirds are provided by recording the sound live with an actual microphone in the cinema itself. On one third of bootleg copies, the sound is supplied by a source free of disturbances (line), recorded for example at a drive-in theatre or directly from the cinema’s sound system.

Wolfgang Greipl summarises: “With this AfD study, we have succeeded in revealing the full scope of the issue of movie theft in Germany. The results clearly show – the subject of illegal copies of films is still quite relevant today.”

Digital watermark
One more reason to promote the further development of the digital watermark. The Fraunhofer-Institute for Integrated Publication and Information Systems is researching on behalf of the German film industry and with the support of the German Federal Film Board Filmförderungsanstalt, FFA) on an optimised procedure for tracking the source of confiscated bootleg copies. A particular advantage of the digital watermark: new, automated search programs can be developed that will enable ongoing scanning of the Internet. The research has already advanced enough that the digital watermark could be introduced as the international standard. In particular, it was tested whether the watermark is audible. The result: even in the quietest moments of the film, it was not to be heard. The tests also showed that the digital watermark is extremely robust, and remains visible in both digital and analogue test recordings despite the use of various compression methods. It was tested in recording situations of various kinds, for example live in the cinema. The result: the technology works perfectly. Now, new tests are planned to determine how to establish an effective international infrastructure for coordinating searches and how best to involve film-technological companies. “We assume that we will very soon succeed in implementing the process on a large scale, thereby further raising the clear-up rate for bootleg copies considerably,” said Johannes Klingsporn, managing director of the Association of Film Distributors (Verband der Filmverleiher e.V., VdF).

The press release can be downloaded from press. For more information about the Available-for-Download (AfD) study by P4M and the RWTH Aachen, please contact Wolfgang Greipl by calling +49/(0)89/790783-0 or by visiting www.p4m.de.