METHODOLOGY - LIMITATIONS OF THE LUMIERE DATABASE

The European Audiovisual Observatory has neither the task nor the resources to collect directly from each country attendance figures for the films distributed in its member states. Its role is merely to collate, process, publish and produce statistical analysis of the data provided by the various bodies responsible for collecting it at national level.

1. Period covered by the database

At present, the database only covers films distributed in Europe and the United States between 1996 and 1999. Data for 2000 will be published at the International Film Market (May 2001). Data from previous years will be gradually added to the database.

2. Consistency of national data collection systems

It is interesting to note that cinema attendance data is collected differently in the various European countries. A wide range of systems are used:

• some countries have strict regulations requiring cinema owners to declare the number of tickets sold and submit detailed information to an official body (such as the CNC in France, the ICAA in Spain, the SIAE in Italy, the FFA in Germany and the SFI in Sweden);

• in some countries (eg Hungary and Portugal), there is no way of checking data, since the film authorities or Ministry of Culture have to rely on figures published by distributors;

• some countries use systems recognised by the film industry, entrusting the task of monitoring ticket sales and income to :

• a professional association with representatives from the different branches of the industry (eg NFC in the Netherlands) or just distributors (eg Procinema in Switzerland, UFD in the Czech Republic and SUD in Slovakia);
• a national statistics institute working in co-operation with the national film institute (eg Denmark, Finland);
• specialised companies or professional journals, which unofficially collate information provided by cinema owners and/or film distributors (eg EDI in the United States, Germany, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Ireland, X27 and Screen Finance in the United Kingdom, Cinetel and Il giornale dello spettacolo in Italy, Ciné-Chiffres and Le film français in France and the Moniteur du film belge in Belgium).

• In some countries there is no regular, exhaustive monitoring system (eg Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Russia).

3. Consistency of coverage rates

The coverage rate for a particular country in a particular year is calculated by comparing ticket sales recorded in the LUMIERE database with total admissions published by national sources and collated by the Observatory (see "Admissions" table in the Observatory's Statistical Yearbook).

The coverage rate achieved by the different data collection methods varies hugely. In principle, official ticket monitoring systems should provide 100% coverage. Once they are well established, declaration-based professional systems also tend to offer comprehensive information, although some only offer partial coverage. Systems which rely on information collected from distributors by the press can also fail to paint the full picture, since some distributors refuse to disclose data concerning their films. Some distributors' associations only agree to publish figures on the top ten or twenty films on the market.

The accessibility of the data collected also varies from one country to another. Public bodies that collect the information usually publish full lists, but this is not always the case. For example, up to now the CNC has only published data concerning films with over one million admissions in France. Other bodies, such as the SIAE in Italy, only allow members to access the data.

Since the situation varies greatly from one country to another, and even from one year to the next, we advise users of the database to refer to the source descriptions, which indicate the methods used and the coverage rate of the data for a particular country in a given year. The coverage rate is calculated by comparing the admission figures for a particular country in a particular year on the LUMIERE database with the information available elsewhere on the total number of tickets sold in that country in that year. We estimate that, for all the countries included in the database on 1 October 2000 (34 European member states of the European Audiovisual Observatory plus the United States), the average coverage rate for 1996-1999 is 88%. The average figure over the same period is 97.3% for the United States and 85% for the European Union. The rate among the 34 Observatory member states is only 75% because of a lack of information in some countries, particularly the Russian Federation.

Details and regular updates of these coverage rates can be found here.

4. Publication thresholds

If there is no data on admissions to a particular film in a particular country, it does not mean that the film was not distributed there, but rather that we do not have any information on any such distribution.

Some countries use a "publication threshold", whereby figures relating to films with sales below a certain level were either not submitted to us or not included in the database for practical reasons. Such a threshold is particularly relevant if the only information available concerns the top ten or twenty films.

For those countries for which we have exhaustive data on admissions, we generally limit data input to films with more than 1000 admissions. 

5. Conversion of box office receipts into actual admission figures

Figures provided by the United Kingdom and United States refer to box office receipts rather than the number of tickets sold. In such cases, the number of admissions is estimated by dividing box office recipts by the average ticket price for the year concerned.

6. Data from the European Community MEDIA Programme concerning the distribution of European films outside their national territory

Information provided by distributors and published by the European Community MEDIA Programme as part of the automatic aid scheme for European film distribution is also highly valuable. These figures represent tickets sold for European films outside their national market. The European Commission and the intermediary organisation that publishes them, D&S GmbH, assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the figures, which are submitted by film distributors. However, they are particularly useful for countries lacking a national monitoring system, providing further information on the distribution of European films. This data represents around 7% of tickets sold within the European Union.

This data is published annually, around the month of June, on the D&S GmbH website.

7. Contradictory information about the same film - OBS data

Sometimes we receive information (identical or conflicting) from more than one source about the same film, country and year. Information on the source chosen and any contradictory data from other sources can be obtained by clicking on the country's ISO code. The software for this European database will select the information the Observatory considers to be the most reliable in accordance with the following criteria (in order of preference):

• official figure if there is one,

• data submitted to the MEDIA Programme,

• other source (usually data provided by the film press).

Such information is labelled with the letters OBS.

8. Information and verification

Any requests for information and verification may be addressed to the person in charge of the LUMIERE database.