Japanese research intstitute: YouTube stimulates anime DVD sales

In Japan, YouTube positively contributes to the sales of anime on DVD. File-sharing does not appear to affect anime sales, but it does harm rentals. These insights emerge from research by the Japanese research institute RIETI.

Research into the (economic) effects of sharing protected content has thus far failed to paint a clear picture of the presence and magnitude of the damage incurred. Although a significant portion of the always growing body of research reports that little damage can be measured, there is also a considerable number of studies that concludes that the creative industry is aversely affected by content sharing.

The result of this study is interesting as it connects sharing on one platform (YouTube) to the sales of one type of content on one type of carrier (anime on DVD). This knowledge is specific enough to be used by rights holders in their sales strategies. However, by concluding that “YouTube can be interpreted as a promotion tool for DVD sales”, the researcher possibly generalises too much: it is entirely possible that the anime audience has different consumer behaviour.

The design and methodology of the study are not clear to us. Only the abstract was published in English.