The market of major film distributors in Poland in 2002-2018

Aim/purpose – The purpose of the paper is to describe and analyse the functioning of the cinema distribution market in Poland in 2002-2018. Design/methodology/approach – The results of the quantitative research of the fifteen major film distributors operating in Poland in the analysed period are presented in the paper, together with market capacity, market share ratios and measures of market concentration. Findings – Thanks to the analysis, large distributors operating in the Polish film market are characterised. The analysis of the structure and the concentration of the sector in question shows that nowadays over half of the cinema distribution in Poland is concentrated in the hands of four companies (UIP, Kino Świat, Monolith and Disney), two of which (UIP, Disney) are foreign branches of the major American studios. Thus, the results of the research provide empirical evidence on the impact of international distribution consortia on the Polish cinematographic industry. They are similar to the existing literature findings which concern other countries (e.g. Canada, New Zealand, Western Europe). This means that Poland is part of the trend of dominance of American distributors on global domestic markets. Research implications/limitations – The paper opens a wider discussion about the Polish film distribution. Yet, the research results concern Poland and cannot be generalised to other countries. In addition, studies refer only to the cinema distribution, not taking into account other channels of distribution as DVD, VOD and online distribution. Originality/value/contribution – The cinema distribution market in Poland is still poorly recognised by researchers. The paper is a valuable addition to this research gap.