From Cinema Paradiso to Netflix: The Evolution and Cost of Audiovisual Consumption in the Digital Era

22 May, 2024
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Intellectual property
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Lucas Charnet


It’s hard to contain the emotion when witnessing the epilogue of “Cinema Paradiso”. When Salvatore Di Toto, now a renowned director, watches in the final scene of the film all the cuts of kisses that his dear friend Alfredo had saved over the years and that are posthumously delivered to him. With a few seconds of viewing, time stops and takes him back to his childhood, when he was simply little Toto, just an 8-year-old boy, captivated by the cinema of his picturesque village, now disappeared along with many other theaters in the country.

The reality is that we all carry with us some film that has made us vibrate and has accompanied us over the years. Many of these films have probably been projected in cinemas that now, sadly, no longer exist. Director Giuseppe Tornatore, back in 1988, foresaw what today, three decades later, has become an inevitable reality for the seventh art: the radical transformation of the film industry as we knew it.

In its place, a new form of consumption has emerged, driven by digital platforms, which, like the cinema of yesteryear, seek to move and capture the viewer. In this article, we explore the most transcendental change in the audiovisual industry since the era of silent cinema to sound cinema, and we analyze why these platforms are increasing their subscription fees: lights, camera… and copyright!

A profound change in the industry

In an era of constant digital change, cinema has been no less and has had to adapt at a forced march to the digitalization of content consumption. With the outbreak of piracy in the early 2000s, with illegal download platforms such as eMule, Series Yonkis, or uTorrent, it became clear what the following years would bring us: paid digital platforms with access to practically infinite content at our fingertips. After all, Spotify, Netflix, HBO are nothing more than platforms like those with the difference that they pay the corresponding royalties for copyright to the owners of their works.

Change of consumption and income: Non-Linear Access

In the past, the three main sources of income for film producers were cinema tickets, the sale of the famous and now-defunct “video and DVD,” and television public communication rights. However, just as in music, where previously only CDs and cassettes were sold for the player in our car, consumption has diversified.

The classic consumption channels (Cinema and traditional TV) are declining with the emergence and diversification of new broadcasting media such as digital platforms or hundreds of on-demand TV channels specialized in specific content. One of the reasons why these new media are leaving the first ones behind is ‘non-linear consumption’. In traditional channels, the viewer had to adapt to a specific and unchangeable programming, at a fixed schedule, from a certain device (TV or Cinema), and often having to consume advertising. In contrast, these new media allow the viewer non-linear consumption, that is, to access the content from the place and time they want through the device they choose; television, tablet, mobile, etc.

This form of consumption has spread to practically all industries, starting with music (Spotify, Apple Music, Prime Music, etc.), cinema and audiovisual content (Netflix, HBO, Prime Video, Disney+, etc.), and even traditional media such as radio, with the unstoppable rise of podcasts (a word that comes from the union of iPod and Broadcasting, coined for the first time in 2004).

A change in content production

The change in the form of consumption has led to a profound change in the industry itself and especially in the type of audiovisual content that is produced. While before projects were made for 90-minute films, now, and especially since the pandemic, large amounts of money are invested in macro series of 10 episodes and 50 minutes per episode with plots that stretch like chewing gum to prolong the time we are in front of the screen.

To give an example of this change in the way of producing, the budget for the trilogy of “The Lord of the Rings,” whose third part “The Return of the King” is the most awarded film in history along with “Titanic” and “Ben-Hur,” had a cost of 300 million dollars. However, only the first season of “The Rings of Power” on Amazon Prime has cost more than 500 million dollars.

How it affects viewers: price increases

We have recently learned that the main digital platforms, such as Netflix, HBO, Disney, Prime Video, and Filmin, are going to raise the price of their monthly subscriptions. This decision is part of a marketing strategy that began more than 10 years ago, when back in 2015, almost no one knew what Netflix or a digital platform was.

The strategy of these platforms was to offer practically unlimited access to an enormous amount of content at a very low price. With the bombardment of weekly macro premieres, the aim was to keep the viewer hooked on the couch at home, creating the need not to miss anything (FOMO Fear Of Missing Out). However, this business model is unsustainable in the long term, which has led these platforms to increase their fees to maintain the quality and quantity of their content offer.

Now, instead, the platforms prioritize profitable productions and sequels of box-office series to capitalize on the large investments of the past. This, combined with the fact that now, instead of movies, much longer series are made, making productions more expensive, means that subscriptions to platforms have skyrocketed in recent years.

To give an example, the subscription price of Netflix in 2015 was 7.99 €, while now it costs 12.99 €. On Amazon Prime Video, the subscription price in 2016 was 19.90 € per year, while today it is 49.90 €. The same goes for Disney+, whose launch price in 2020 was 6.99 €, and today it is 11.99 €. In summary, subscribing to all platforms used to cost 65 € and now 130 € per month.

Will prices rise forever? Common sense tells us no, but references like Steve Jobs taught us that you can create a need in people if done properly. The phones before the iPhone in 2007 had a cost of 80 €, while today you can pay up to 1,650 € for a phone, if you can still call it that.

Conclusion

Just as Giuseppe Tornatore described the gradual and inevitable disappearance of cinema theaters that today is more than a reality, we are facing a moment in which the consumption of any type of work changes hand in hand with the vertiginous technological evolution of our time. Faced with this, it is crucial to understand how copyright works and how it adapts to this change, protecting works and ensuring fair protection for their owners.

At MES Advocats, we offer comprehensive advice and support in the process of registering and managing creative works, providing a personalized and efficient service for our clients. Our experience allows us to offer a fast, tailored service with excellent results. If you need more information or are interested in obtaining a quote, do not hesitate to contact us.

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AuthorsIntellectual Property

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