Consumer policy watchdog ConsumerWatch said on Tuesday that 62.7 percent of respondents opposed holdbacks, according to a nationwide survey conducted from Aug. 20 to 25 on movie holdbacks and consumers’ right to choose. Support stood at 21.4 percent.

A holdback refers to a system that restricts the release of theatrically released films on online video services (OTT) for a certain period. In the survey, ConsumerWatch told respondents that the holdback period could be up to 6 months after a theatrical run ends.

In the survey, 71.4 percent agreed that artificially delaying OTT release timing by the government or industry could restrict consumers’ choice of content. Those who answered “strongly agree” stood at 38.5 percent and “somewhat agree” at 32.9 percent.

The most common reason for cutting back on cinema visits or not going often was the burden of ticket prices.

In the survey, which allowed up to 2 multiple responses, 49.6 percent cited “movie ticket prices are burdensome,” the highest share. It was followed by “other platforms such as OTT are more convenient” at 44.8 percent, “there is a lack of movies worth watching” at 41.3 percent and “if I wait a little, I can watch it on OTT” at 24.6 percent.

As measures needed to revitalise the film industry and cinemas, “lower movie ticket prices and expanding diverse pricing based on time and seats” ranked highest at 60.3 percent. “Expanding competitive movie content that audiences want to watch” was close behind at 59.9 percent.

By contrast, only 8.7 percent cited “restricting OTT releases of theatrically released films” as a measure.

Other responses included improving cinema facilities and services at 21.0 percent, promoting freer distribution contracts among cinemas, production companies, distributors and OTT at 16.3 percent, and promoting film production and private investment at 12.7 percent.

ConsumerWatch said, “There is sympathy for the need to revitalise the film industry and cinemas, but it is necessary to be cautious about uniformly restricting even when and where consumers watch films on the grounds of protecting the industry.” It also said, “The policy debate needs to consider that opposition to long-term restrictions on OTT releases and concerns about infringing consumers’ right to choose both appeared high.”