CONTACT US
ABOUT US
OUR SERVICES
INSIGHT Blog
The INSIGHT blog is brought to you by the executive consultants and partners of EyeTraffic Media. Our ever-evolving blog forum offers independent commentary and reflection on the application of interactive marketing and the penetration of new media.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
BitTorrent and Hollywood: An Unexpected Alliance
Author:
Dinos Papanastasiou
Research Analyst
Recently, BitTorrent, the popular peer-to-peer distribution protocol which is notorious for its piracy, is in talks with many Hollywood entertainment companies including 20th Century Fox, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures. This is the an attempt - yet not the first one - by media companies and the RIAA alike, to try to capitalize popular piracy networks by implementing new business models that are cheap, easily accessible, and above all-legal.
What makes BitTorrent different from iTunes and the reincarnation of Napster? It is their unique transfer protocol that enables peers to download at lightning fast speeds; this is possible through a large decentralized network where peers simultaneously download pieces of the media file, while giving others the pieces they have. The only downside to this model is of course in the case that there are no peers supporting the file, then there is no downloading available. However, BitTorrent and their new allies are in the process of creating a database where the file can be downloaded anyway, just at a slower rate.
What does this new business model have in store for the consumer? Obviously downloading your favorite movies, such as the complete first season of LOST, in a matter of minutes is a definite bonus for this new model. A probable arrival will be that of next generation quality (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). This means no more hassle of rushing to the store to buy media manually. Hollywood intends to make these prices highly affordable - so much so that these media companies may incur some backlash from retail stores like Wal-Mart and Target. So in essence, it’s a big win for not only the consumer, but for BitTorrent as a company. For Hollywood - it allows them to transfer their files and recover some of the money that they have been losing from the illegal use of BitTorrent since its inception.
Share Your Insight: Do you agree with this "If You Can't Beat Them - Join Them" approach? How do you think this will change the way we buy and watch our movies?
Dinos Papanastasiou
Research Analyst
Recently, BitTorrent, the popular peer-to-peer distribution protocol which is notorious for its piracy, is in talks with many Hollywood entertainment companies including 20th Century Fox, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures. This is the an attempt - yet not the first one - by media companies and the RIAA alike, to try to capitalize popular piracy networks by implementing new business models that are cheap, easily accessible, and above all-legal.
What makes BitTorrent different from iTunes and the reincarnation of Napster? It is their unique transfer protocol that enables peers to download at lightning fast speeds; this is possible through a large decentralized network where peers simultaneously download pieces of the media file, while giving others the pieces they have. The only downside to this model is of course in the case that there are no peers supporting the file, then there is no downloading available. However, BitTorrent and their new allies are in the process of creating a database where the file can be downloaded anyway, just at a slower rate.
What does this new business model have in store for the consumer? Obviously downloading your favorite movies, such as the complete first season of LOST, in a matter of minutes is a definite bonus for this new model. A probable arrival will be that of next generation quality (HD-DVD and Blu-Ray). This means no more hassle of rushing to the store to buy media manually. Hollywood intends to make these prices highly affordable - so much so that these media companies may incur some backlash from retail stores like Wal-Mart and Target. So in essence, it’s a big win for not only the consumer, but for BitTorrent as a company. For Hollywood - it allows them to transfer their files and recover some of the money that they have been losing from the illegal use of BitTorrent since its inception.
Share Your Insight: Do you agree with this "If You Can't Beat Them - Join Them" approach? How do you think this will change the way we buy and watch our movies?
posted by Eye Traffic @ 11:40 AM | 0 comments 
