Worldwide revenue for Over-the-top tv and videos is expected to cross $80 billion by 2022. It is safe to say that this phenomenon is here to stay and will slowly disrupt the traditional TV industry. Forerunners in this space will come to eventually dominate this space.

What still remains in the dark is how to go about developing a cutting-edge platform that will provide the best possible experience to users across all devices. In this blog, we have tried to outline the fundamentals of building such a platform, with relevant examples from industry leaders and other players in this space.

What is an OTT Platform?

OTT platform providers also known as Over-The-Top platforms are content providers and are growing at a rapid pace, as more and more people are switching online mediums for entertainment. A report by ComScore stated that 50 million households across the globe access OTT video, which they consume in the same time-of-day pattern as traditional TV viewers. Looking at the current scenario, it can be easily said that the video content medium has been reshaped and evolved by  OTT video streaming providers.

OTT is a method through which audio, video, and other media services are distributed directly to consumers over the internet, bypassing traditional services such as cable tv. OTT can also be thought of as a service or technology that provides users with the opportunity to deliver pre-recorded and live-streamed content. This content can be accessed via internet-enabled devices like mobiles, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, streaming sticks, and personal computers. Today, most OTT platforms offer more than just video streaming and video hosting.

Some include video monetization features i.e. to sell your video content via different models such as one-off purchases, subscriptions, rentals, or bundled packages.

Some notable examples include Amazon Prime, Netflix, Disney Hotstar, and Hulu.

The OTT market can be categorized into three service types – subscription video on demand (SVOD), transactional video on demand (TVOD), and advertising video on demand (AVOD).

OTT Includes:

• Over-the-top (OTT) video viewers: Users who access the video content via an app or website that provides streaming video content. For e.g., HBO Now, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Video, YouTube/YouTube Red and SlingTV.
• Connected TV (CTV) users: Users using TV sets connected to the internet through built-in internet connectivity (such as Smart TV) or through other devices with functionality such as set-top box (STB) devices. For e.g., Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Amazon FireStick, Roku.
• Linear OTT video service users: Users subscribing to a service that delivers live TV channel bundles via the internet for a monthly subscription. For e.g., Sling TV, DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV and PlayStation Vue.
  Common sub-categories of OTT/CTV users include:
• Advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD): Users get to access the content for free and is later monetized through video advertising.
• Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD): Users who have subscribed for a paid subscription (monthly or yearly) access to streaming video content.

Transactional-based video-on-demand (TVOD): Users who have paid to access certain content through a pay-per-view (PPV) purchase model.

Benefits of the OTT Platform

Once subscribed for a subscription, anyone can access quality content anytime and anywhere. Along with this, there are many benefits of OTT Platforms. OTT Platforms & businesses have grown tremendously during pandemic times playing an essential role in the information revolution and development. Additionally, conducting thorough research and seeking recommendations from IT professionals can help you make an informed decision when deciding how to choose softphone for large business to meet your specific needs.

OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, and Hulu have gained huge popularity. With the urge to get more and more on-demand entertainment, people are subscribing to streaming services even more. Below we have mentioned a few reasons that back up for online streaming services:

1. Connectivity:

• OTT broadcasting platforms are really easy to access and use. It just requires a stable internet connection and a compatible viewing device like a smart TV or a smartphone etc. The network carrier provides internet connectivity against a monthly payment and the viewer has the flexibility to choose an internet package or plan based on his requirements.

2. Cost Friendly:   

• OTT platforms are very cost-friendly when compared to the Traditional TV connection. You get to access all the content you get on TV cable on OTT platforms for a relatively low price. However, the only cost involved is the internet data package which depends on your OTT usage and the subscription fees, if any.

3. Convenience   

• With OTT platforms, you get to access your favourite content anytime, anywhere and as often as you want. With the availability of the internet these days, accessing content on OTT platforms becomes easy on all devices. Whereas, in the case of traditional cable networks you get bound by physical and geographical requirements for cable. This freedom of location makes it very convenient for viewers to stream their favourite content. They just need to log in to their streaming account from anywhere and start streaming.

4. Variety content:

• With traditional cable networks, viewers face limitations in channel selection, type, quality and variety of content. They are restrictive in the content that they show. For eg., serials, news, live games, movies, kids content etc… Whereas, OTT platforms open up a wide variety of content including both free & paid content. Users can subscribe to become prime members, but even without subscribing, they can access varied almost unlimited content.

5. Device Independent:       

• OTT platforms allow you to access media services anytime and anywhere. And this stands as the biggest advantage of OTT platforms. Thanks to the VoD services, you get to enjoy your favourite shows anytime, anywhere. Also, it is now compatible with digital devices like Smart Android TV and other devices so, you can enjoy streaming on that too. You can access it on any device irrespective of the network carrier.

Delivery of OTT Content

The accessibility of OTT content is what it makes so popular and widely accessible. For OTT streaming all you need is an internet connection and a compatible hardware device.

• Mobile OTT Devices: You can use your Smartphones and tablets to download OTT apps to stream on the go.
• Personal Computers: Users can also access OTT content from desktop-based apps or web browsers provided they’re internet-connected.
• Smart TVs: These are the latest addition to stream OTT. The most common examples include Apple TV’s, smart TVs, PlayStation, Chromecast, Xbox, FireStick, etc. While the majority of the users prefer to stream OTT content on mobile and desktop devices, they aren’t considered true OTT devices.

Features to Look For in An OTT Platform

With the burst of high-speed internet and access to cheaper mobile devices, OTT has gained huge popularity and wide access. According to a Statista report, the global OTT revenue is likely to hit $150 billion by 2024. That’s a massive opportunity.

However, when it comes to choosing a reliable OTT platform, the task gets tough. With the countless OTT platforms to choose from it’s really a tough task to select one. Below are a few basic features that you must look for while choosing an OTT platform for reliable video streaming.

• HTML5 Video – A reliable and well-coded HTML5 player is required for high-quality and buffer-free video streaming. A reliable HTML5 player should also include adaptive bitrate streaming to stream your videos smoothly on all devices with any internet bandwidth.
• High Customization – If you need it for your business needs, make sure that your OTT platform offers suitable customizations for its video player and libraries. For eg., you might want to have the colors of your own choice and embed your own logo.
• Live Streaming Tools – Well if you’re looking to teach something online and give life lessons, then you might need this feature. Or else, video hosting platforms with other features available should suffice your needs.
• Custom SDKs and APIs – You can create a well-customized video streaming platform with the help of SDKs and APIs. It also helps you in delivering consistent playback of video across multiple applications.
• In-depth Reporting – After all that you’ve done to engage your users, you need a powerful analytics tool with some in-depth stats for the performance of your videos and customer engagement in real time.

Good Customer Support – After all the hard work you’ve put in, you certainly need good customer support at the end of the day. Good customer support is a backbone for any business needs.

Facts about the OTT Platform

• By 2024, the global OTT market is expected to surpass $335 billion, driven by the growing demand for on-demand video content and an increasing number of smartphones and internet connections.
• In India, the number of users in the OTT video segment is expected to reach 528.9m by 2027.
• In 2023, the average revenue per user (ARPU) is projected to cross $90.14 in the OTT video segment.
• In 2020, revenue from OTT services in India reached more than $2bn.
• Smartphones dominate the OTT market in viewership.
• The United States is one of the leading OTT markets in the world with nearly 300 OTT providers.
• According to a Statista report, Slovakia had the most extensive Netflix media library in the world as of October 2022.

Key Ingredients to building a successful OTT Platform

1) Delivery of video

How are you going to deliver your video? This is going to be your bread and butter and it will be critical in delivering an unforgettable experience for your consumers. 80% of users leave if a video does not load too quickly, and only 11% actually watch another episode.

You can do it yourself but self-hosting is rarely a good idea.

Most OTT providers focus on creating content and work with Video hosting services and Content Delivery Networks for delivery. Choosing a video hosting service depends on your requirements such as locations, bandwidth, storage, encryption etc.

VdoCipher is one of them. (Some shameless self-promotion never hurt anybody)

2) Access across all devices

How do you ensure that your content is accessible across all devices? Viewers expect a broadcast-quality experience across all devices at any time of the day. To be able to provide a seamless experience, the platform must be able to recognise which device is making a request and stream content accordingly. This would involve keeping a copy of every video in different formats, for different devices and screen sizes.

3) Reporting and analytics

To be able to make informed decisions about your business, it is important that you track metrics such as what your customers are watching, from where, and from which devices. Most video hosting services and CDNs would provide some level of analytics and insights into user behaviour.

Once you start gathering data about how your customers are watching your content, the next step would be to map the user behaviour to the user demographics. This would give you the ability to create user segments with well-defined likes and dislikes. Using this data you would be able to personalise the experience for each and every user by trying to predict what they may like or dislike.

Netflix uses a recommendation engine that has over 2000 taste groups with each video mapped to those groups. Over 80% of content that is consumed on Netflix is discovered by users on its recommendation system. A strong recommendation algorithm is vital to the stickiness of any OTT Platform. Read more about OTT platforms in India.

4) Monetization

How will you make money? This is the question that you must answer at some point in your entrepreneurial journey. There are primarily three ways to monetize your videos Subscriber Video on Demand (SVOD), Transaction Video on Demand (TVOD), and Advertiser Video on Demand (AVOD).

5) Security and anti-piracy

How are you going to protect your content from Pirates? Distributors in the US alone lost $9 billion dollars in revenue in 2016 because of piracy. The number is expected to go up by almost 30% by 2022.

There are many options available, such as Digital Rights Management, encrypted video streaming, dynamic watermarking, password protection and IP/Geo-Lock. Securing your videos from video downloaders available online can the most important task once you start proprietary content.

Find more details about VdoCipher’s DRM infrastructure and our integration of Widevine DRM for Hollywood-grade security, which helps us protect your premium content.

6) User engagement and video interface

How will viewers engage with you and your platform? This is an important aspect of controlling the user experience.

While consuming media, one of the most important rules in interface design is ‘don’t make the customer think’.

Netflix, for example, allows consuming what they want, when they want, wherever they want and they do not impose any form of penalties such as an advertisement, or time restrictions.

This is where Netflix really went one step ahead of traditional cable services, they created original content and allowed users to binge-watch entire seasons and the time of release without any advertisements. All of this, just for a small monthly fee.

7) Customer Support

Building the platform would only be the first step of the journey. Your team needs to be able to ensure that any viewers facing technical difficulties should easily be able to reach you and resolve their problem. That means being available 24/7 to solve any problems that your viewers may have.

Building an OTT platform is no walk in the park, but it doesn’t need to be unnecessarily complicated. Choosing the right partners can reduce your workload and give you the time to focus on what you do best.

IPTV vs. OTT

As we are talking about OTT technology, let’s clear up a common query in the field of online streaming. Many people start wondering when it comes to differentiating between IPTV and OTT. Both are very similar streaming technologies and seem very identical on the table.

The main differentiating factor between IPTV vs OTT streaming is – OTT is on an open network, whereas, IPTV uses closed and private networks.

Over the Top (OTT) – video streaming is done over a publicly accessible Internet connection. Hence, it’s known as Over the Top. OTT content is delivered through an open internet, unmanaged network and follows an open ecosystem. The content is transmitted via the internet instead of satellite or cable. It can be viewed on any mobile data or Wi-Fi. And does not require dedicated broadband-based connectivity for availing this service.

Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) – The content is delivered to the computers attached to the network based on the Internet protocol (IP). In IPTV, content is delivered through a dedicated, managed network. So it follows a closed ecosystem. The content is transmitted via the internet to a dedicated set-up box. It requires a device to be connected to a dedicated broadband-based connection to avail of the service and is considered as a primary requirement.

On-demand streaming is possible with IPTV. However, it’s not nearly as popular as it is with OTT. Large enterprises and organizations use IPTV for hosting their content, whereas streaming services like Netflix and Hulu rely on OTT.

OTT vs. VOD 

OTT stands for over-the-top – It refers to the way that OTT streaming services go over the top of traditional media to deliver the content. The content is delivered outside the “closed” networks, bypassing the traditional method of distribution i.e. via cables or satellite. They allow the audience to stream content to any device with the availability of the internet. Almost all devices that can receive and display internet signals can have access to OTT content. These devices can be your mobile phones, computers, smart TVs, gaming consoles, OTT set-top boxes, and more.

Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime and Hulu are the most popular OTT services available currently. Users can access or stream their content once connected to the internet. YouTube is also a notable example of an OTT platform.

Video-on-demand or VOD –  VOD OTT difference is that users can stream any video content of a platform or collection. It’s not restricted to any broadcasting schedule nor a physical copy of the video. Platforms like Netflix and YouTube also fit in here, thus, raising confusion between VOD and OTT.

Other than streaming content via the internet, VoD can also refer to users’ downloaded files and even recorded DVR content. And viewers can then access it anytime after its original air time. You can use mobiles, video streaming services, and even OTT devices to access VOD.

Video on demand can further be categorised into 3 categories based on their business model:

• Advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD): Users get to access the content for free and is later monetized through video advertising. e.g., Youtube.
• Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD): Users who have subscribed for a paid subscription (monthly or yearly) access to streaming video content. e.g., Netflix
• Transactional based video-on-demand (TVOD): Users who have paid to access certain content through a pay-per-view (PPV) purchase model. e.g., Amazon Prime

The Future of OTT

OTT is disrupting the industry for good. Viewers are now switching to streaming apps & OTT services. Apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Hulu have gained huge popularity resulting in the loss of viewers for traditional TV. As the OTT market continues to grow, so will the opportunities associated with it. For e.g., brands adopting OTT video to support their sales and marketing goals.

OTT platforms have helped a lot in these difficult pandemic times by being one of the major sources of entertainment. Almost all the streaming services are offering free trials and consumers are making the most of it.

However, the real test for these platforms is customer retention. And this can be achieved not just with quality content but also with great technology like Netflix. To provide users with a seamless experience of content viewing, OTT providers need to assess all the phases of  OTT subscriber’s lifecycle. And the first step towards it is content discovery and delivery. Going further, AI & ML will help personalize the search experience by understanding the customer behaviour and recommending the right content at the right time.

Conclusion

We hope by now you must have had a fair enough understanding of OTT platforms. So in this space, we’ve learnt – What OTT platforms are, how they work, their benefits and their future. And now we can surely conclude that OTT is the future of delivering online media content. Also, it is a convenient replacement for the TV Cable.

There are numerous OTT platforms available today. And, all those platforms have their own unique features and capabilities to offer. And mostly all of them are suitable for streaming VoDs and live events. However, when choosing an OTT platform for yourself, review your requirements carefully and allocate a budget for it. This will help you make a more appropriate decision. Additionally, we’ve given you a few tips and features to choose the best OTT platform and monetizing your video content.

Looking to have your own OTT platform? VdoCipher offers a secure video hosting platform to successfully host and deliver your content. We provide Hollywood grade security with OTT DRM encryption, dynamic watermarking with a fully packaged cloud server hosting and video player solution. Vdocipher is a direct DRM license partner with Google for Widevine DRM and also integrates Apple Fairplay DRM.

Try all of our features with our free 30-days trial. Sign Up to start your free trial today. No credit card required.

Learn more about our secure video streaming service, by either reaching out to us at support@vdocipher.com or sign up for a free trial here.

FAQs

What monetization options are available on OTT platforms?

The most popular OTT revenue models are SVOD, AVOD, TVOD, and a combination of SVOD and AVOD.

How do OTT platforms acquire content?

Mainly there are two ways. One is purchasing broadcasting rights from filmmakers and individual creators to boost subscribers on the platform. Others are producing their own content, otherwise known as Originals.

What are the limitations while using the OTT platform?

As such it is not a limitation but you need a fast internet connection. Also, because of geo-restrictions and licensing agreements, some OTT content will be unavailable in certain regions.

Subodh

Product Marketing Specialist, VdoCipher.

www.vdocipher.com

The post OTT Platforms: 9 Important Things You Should Know in 2023 appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Content creators spend a substantial amount of time creating their content. A lot of TV series you might see on Netflix take months to produce and a lot of money too. It is a bummer to put in all this effort and then your content gets downloaded for free. In some cases, users share their credentials with others and a single account is used for multiple access.

How Does Video Piracy Happen?

In essence, video piracy happens in two ways. That is through credential sharing and video downloading. Piracy of any kind, whether it is movie piracy or piracy of eLearning content hurts revenue. Don’t you think users would rather access the content for free if they had that option?

Here are a few ways by which you might be losing new potential customers and revenues.

Credentials Sharing

Given a choice, anyone would choose not to pay for something which they get for free. But as a content creator, it’s your bread and butter. You might as well take extra effort to curb with this.

Credential sharing happens with streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Hotstar. Users often buy a single account, share it with friends and family without paying for extra bandwidth or users.  Also, at times with strangers to swap the different subscribed services.

There are different other ways video content is pirated by getting access to the credentials.

• Password Theft – When account credentials are hacked and stolen from the users. These accounts can be further sold by Pirates.
• Endless trials – This one is quite popular among users, as they’d often create fake accounts. Even using different credit cards, to access the content for free and even resold at times
• Bypass of concurrency controls – Pirates hack in the video platform server to tinker with the restriction of the number of devices. This way a single account can be used by multiple users without any restrictions.
• Token theft – Streaming apps or web browsers use tokens to identify the user. Pirates can copy these tokens to other devices and use them again to access the content.

Video Downloading

There are several tools available online, which makes it easy for users to download a video.  By just entering the URL in the tool, they can easily download your video. And from there on it can easily get into all the popular pirate resources.

Video streaming platforms use encryption to protect their videos, but a lot of times they don’t focus too much on key protection. Pirates take advantage of this fact, they put in efforts to find the encryption key. With the key, pirates can easily convert encrypted file back to raw file. Pirates at times also target the storage platform used by the platform to get access to the content before it is even released.

Simulcast Of Live Streaming & TV channels

Capturing and redistribution of live streaming and tv channels has been one of the major forms of video piracy. Live sports are one of the live events which have been pirated massively. According to a study done by sportspromedia, about 51% of sports fans opt for watching pirated video streams.

Pirates use various methods to capture live streaming

• Tampering with video playback software or Android OS
• Recording screens during playback or capturing during a screen-share session
• Using credential stuffing attacks to access and use legitimate viewer details
• Tampering with video to defeat watermarking, such as re-quantization
• Using VPN to access content not available in the geographical region,

The Extent of the problem

You might find a lot of studies on the internet regarding video piracy, but the truth is it’s still difficult to predict the real extent of piracy around the globe. And the sole reason for the same is we haven’t been able to stick with a consistent method to track this problem.

There are many datasets provided by huge commercial companies but they aren’t completely useful and can often be at odds with one another based on methodology.

• A study was conducted by “The European Intellectual Property Office(EUIPO)” regarding the impact of piracy across member states. The numbers showed that approx 13.7 million users are accessing illegal pirate services around the European countries.
• The study also showed that the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain constituted the highest percentages of offending viewers within their populations, with 8.9%, 8.5%, and 6.9% respectively(the EU average is 3.6%).
• The United Kingdom(2.4 million), France(2.3 million), and Spain(2.2 million) have the largest populations when it comes to using illegal services on a regular basis.
• The picture is yet to be clear in North America. A study by Sandvine showed that around 6.5% of households were regularly communicating with pirate sites. Meanwhile, a report by  Park Associates identified that more than 14.1 million U.S. households accessed pirated videos in 2019, which is approximately 16% of the total pay TV market.
• A study conducted by the University of Amsterdam in 2017 showed the piracy habits across Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand. Both the Indonesian and Thai populations showed a very high usage of pirated content, with the study estimating between 65% and 54% of their internet populations. Hong Kong registered 27% of their internet population while Japan registered 12% of their internet population (11% of the total population).
• The results were confirmed by the Asia Video Industry Association in 2019 based on the consumer survey report and it was identified that 24% of consumers in Hong kong use internet streaming devices for accessing pirated channels. This number increased to 28% of consumers in the Philippines, 34% in Taiwan, and 45% in Thailand.

From the above-mentioned studies and reports, it can be clearly seen and concluded that video piracy and in particular, TV or Movie piracy, still remains a serious issue globally.

What is the Impact of piracy? 

Various studies have shown that by 2022 the estimated losses to the industry would be as high as $52 billion globally (Digital TV Research 2017) along with massive GDP losses. Talking about The United States only, the GDP losses due to piracy have been estimated between $47 billion and $115 billion (Blackburn et al, 2019).

With a lot of research and studies now available, we are getting to understand the wider impact of this video piracy problem. The American movie and TV production and distribution industry support over 2.6 million jobs, and in 2017 alone, it generated $229 billion in revenue. A report by Blackburn, Eisenach, and Harrison on the impact of movie piracy on the U.S. economy, estimated that in 2017 between 230,000 and 560,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. as a direct result of pirating activity.

Not only economy and employment, now we’re beginning to see how video piracy has started impacting licensing too, which stands as the backbone of the digital industry, and is arguably a more damaging strategic issue than any other. Say simply, why would the potential distributors invest a high amount of money for rights when content is readily available for free on pirate sites? Why would rights owners sell to a distributor who has the potential of damaging their international sales?

A recent study from the US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center identified that movie piracy costs the US TV and film industry at least an estimated $29.2 billion dollars and as much as $71 billion annually.

Pirated videos now get more than 230 billion views every year, with the majority coming outside from the US. The highest demand is for pirated TV episodes with over 12.8 billion views in the U.S. and 170.6 billion views outside. There are 26.6 billion illegal online viewings of U.S. produced movies and 126.7 billion viewings of American TV shows annually.

Torrent search engines like PirateBay have a wide portfolio of pirated content from Netflix and other streaming platforms and then serves it to approx 59 million pirates online. Similarly, there are numerous other illegal video streaming sites continuously contributing to OTT video piracy, every single day.

An “OTT streaming revenue insights”  estimated that video piracy is expected to hit $9.1 billion of revenue in 2019 with the loss set to grow by 38% to $12.5 billion by 2022.

Parks Associates estimated that revenue lost to video pirate operations could exceed $61 billion in 2020 and $67 billion worldwide by 2023. The report says that if 10% of paid TV subscribers canceled pay-TV services due to video delivered by pirates, the loss could reach up to $6 billion by 2023 for those operators. A Parks survey of U.S. broadband households also showed that 5% of people used someone else’s credentials to get access to paid TV service, and 6% did so to access an online video service.

How To Stop Video Piracy?

Data has regularly shown that users who often pirate content are often the biggest buyer of legit content. There is a strong correlation between providing viewers with content that they want to watch (with a good streaming experience at a reasonable price) and a reduction in piracy.

Another way to curb video piracy is to make it much easier for users to access the content on their SVOD, TVOD, or AVOD platform.  A lot of users might opt for a better user experience even though they have to pay a premium price for it. Platforms like Netflix personalized content suggestions based on their choices and makes it simple for users to find shows they might like.

Let’s just explore a few more action you can take in order to stop video piracy on your website:

Block Credential Sharing

As discussed before credential sharing is one of the major causes of video piracy, users often share passwords to their accounts with each other. This results in several simultaneous logins from an account, leading to consumption of the same premium content several times which leads to a loss in revenue that you could have gained from those views

-For CMS like WordPress Websites

If your website is based on WordPress you can easily stop credential sharing by using several plugins available. Using this you can restrict the number of users accessing an account at a time. You can use the word press plugin to block simultaneous logins.

By using this plugin, you can ensure that at a time users can only log in from a single device, ultimately stopping the account from being accessed by multiple users at the same time. Also, make sure you have best managed WordPress hosting to avoid any other obstacles in ensuring security.

-For Non-WordPress Websites

In case your website is not based on WordPress you can still restrict concurrent logins. This can be done by allocating a unique ID which is allocated every time a user logs in. Every time a unique ID is active for an account, no other ID is generated and the previous ID cannot be used to log in to the platform.

Using SSO for login

Using a Single sign-on for login to the user account has proven to be effective to stop credential sharing. A user can log in to the platform using social logins such as Google, Facebook, etc.

Even though a user might share their login for the video platform easily but a Facebook or Google password is more personal and the user would refrain from sharing it with their friends. Also, since its SSO is user-friendly and it saves trouble such as remembering passwords and login is much simpler with just a click it makes sense to promote this feature to the user.

Restrict Video Playback

Another way to make sure that the account is not shared by the users is to restrict total watch time for a user. Typically a user won’t watch a lecture twice or thrice, depending on your user’s behavior you can keep a total playback time for a video restricted.

This way you can ensure that your video is not being watched multiple times by several users. For a more technical explanation on this, you can refer to the video linked to restricting watch time, also, in case you need code for this you can get it here.

Using Video Encryption

Video encryption is used to secure your videos by encrypting or hiding them from anyone you haven’t given access to. Basically, it stops anyone from viewing the video without your permission(the encryption key).

At present there are two major popular and easy to use encrypted video streaming protocols:

• AES 128 Encryption (Normal or Sample AES 128 protocol)
• HLS Encryption with AES-128

The flaw in common video encryption technologies – Even though these encryption by themselves are decently strong and cannot be cracked by brute force but they have a major flaw, that is the fact that their keys are exposed and can be accessed by any hacker or a tool/extension with some effort. Hackers can use the key to easily decrypt and download the video

Since the major flaw in the encryption technology is the open key exchange, it makes sense only to use a technology that can fix this. This is where DRM comes in.

Using DRM Encryption Technology

DRM(Digital Rights Management) works alongside the HLS, DASH, and RTMP encryption to make the video more secure by making it impossible to find the encryption key. DRM effectively removes any flaws in the video encryption to ensure that the video is not downloadable.

Major DRM being used in the market to stop video piracy are:

1. Google’s Widevine DRM
2. Apple’s Fairplay DRM

In order to ensure video protection, DRM is often used along with Watermarking to track any pirated content.

Using Watermarking

Watermarking involves embedding digital information in a video signal to identify its source of origin. It aims to identify the redistribution source of illegal streaming services. All content is marked, or tattooed, with a unique identifier that can be extracted in case of piracy in order to find the original source.

Domain Restrictions

Another way to ensure video protection is to make sure that your videos are domain restriction. This enables you to limit your video embed codes to play and load only on your domain. This prevents copying of embed code and its use by hackers to view the video on their domain

Choosing A Secure Video Hosting Service

In case you don’t have much idea using the above-mentioned video protection technology, you can always fall back on a 3rd party secure video hosting service.

These hosting platforms take care of all the tech parts related to secure video and stream seamlessly on the client-side. All you need to do is upload the video on the platform, and use the embed code on your website.

A good video hosting platform has a few prerequisites that you need to check while choosing any such service.

• Security– A DRM based encryption to protect your content
• Video API– to manage videos, to enable automatic video upload, and get OTP for playback
• CDN-to ensure speedy content delivery to the user regardless of their geographic location
• Video Analytics – Insights into how your content is consumed by your users and also help you flag any unlikely events.

How VdoCipher Helps In Stopping Video Piracy?

At present, there are several platforms that provide video protection. But their offering is limited to video encryption without any video DRM technology. This exposes the key, which an informed user can easily identify and use to access the video. A lot of our current customers have faced such issues before finally sticking to our video security solution. This is where Vdocipher comes in, we ensure the highest security for our clients from video piracy. We do this by providing Hollywood grade DRM encryption and our dynamic watermarking technology. Find out more about on how to prevent video download on the blog linked.

• Encrypted DRM Video Streaming – With Vdocipher’s Hollywood grade DRM technology, no one can download your videos using a plugin or any hacks.
• Dynamic Watermarking – You can watermark the Ip address, user id, email id, phone no, logo, text overlay to identify the source of the piracy. You can even customize the watermark in terms of its opacity, color, speed, and size as well.
• Server To Player Package – With Vdocipher you not only get video protection but we also provide -Amazon AWS for Servers, CDN, Transcoding, Analytics, API, Dashboard, Plugins, Custom workflows. All these features further add to the security and make it easy to control your videos.
• Smart Online Video Player – With our customizable online video player, you can give access to popular features such as subtitles, speed change, forward rewind options to your users. In case you provide an android app, you can also give an option to keep those videos for offline use without worrying about piracy.
• Screen Capture Blocking in  Mobile Apps – VdoCipher mobile SDK integration default includes screen capture protection in both Android & IOS Apps. Screen capture protection in common browsers like Chrome, and Firefox on the desktop is not possible.

How Netflix is Tackling Piracy related to Account Sharing?

Last year, Netflix announced that they would start making users pay an extra fee to share their Netflix account with someone living outside the household. This account-sharing crackdown is supposed to be rolled out globally by the end of March. 

According to Netflix, about 100 million households use shared accounts. Cracking down on password sharing might prove to be a good opportunity for their revenue growth. 

How will Netflix stop you from sharing your password?

Going forward, Netfile will ask their users to verify their identity through a code sent to the account holder’s email or text message, or by logging in with a recognized device. If a user is unable to verify their identity, they will have to either create a new sub-account by paying a small fee to add users. 

In order to use a device not part of the account owner’s household a user will need to enter a verification code, sent to the primary email or phone number linked to the account. You’ll have to enter the code within 15 minutes in order to gain access to the account. Netflix will use, the IP address, and device ID in order to determine if the device is part of the household.

FAQs

How software piracy can be controlled?

The strategies to mitigate software piracy include, Use of multi-DRM download system, Employing Antipiracy Software, Implementing Obfuscation, Tamper-Proof Software, Software Watermarking, Copyrights, Patents, and End User Agreements, Providing Demo or Trial Versions, Promoting Antipiracy Incentives.

How can piracy be prevented in regard to data and information?

Here are some of the key approaches identified from different sources, Affordable Access to Content, Public Relations and Education, Barriers to Entry for Pirates, Active Monitoring and Legal Action, Consumer Responsibility, Industry Cooperation, Innovative Use of Technology.

How does piracy affect the film industry?

The financial toll of piracy on the U.S. economy is nearly $30 billion annually, with pirated videos viewed over 200 billion times in 2018 alone. This loss translates into up to 560,000 industry job losses each year, affecting not just direct stakeholders like filmmakers and distributors but also ancillary businesses and services associated with film production​​. The ripple effects of piracy extend beyond immediate financial damage, posing a threat to creativity by reducing investment in new and innovative projects. Independent films and smaller projects, which often rely on box office returns and legitimate sales for success, are disproportionately affected.

Data sources:

https://www.akamai.com/us/en/multimedia/documents/white-paper/inside-the-world-of-video-pirates.pdf 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/06/26/pirated-video-gets-viewed-over-200-billion-times-a-year-infographic/#75f4b25a2bcf

https://www.ncta.com/whats-new/how-much-is-digital-video-piracy-costing-the-us-economy

https://www.theglobalipcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Digital-Video-Piracy.pdf

Subodh

Product Marketing Specialist, VdoCipher.

www.vdocipher.com

The post 12 Video Piracy Statistics, 6 Prevention Methods (2023) appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Specifically, the global video cloud streaming platform and service are expected to value $350 billion by 2030. Nearly 85% of US viewers have at least one subscription to a media streaming service. So why is media streaming becoming so popular and profitable?

What are media streaming service?

Media streaming service are online platforms where viewers stream and access multimedia content such as movies, shows, audio, sports, and podcasts over the internet. To access the library of content on these media services, viewers require a subscription or some sort of payment. Viewers need an active internet connection and compatible software and hardware systems to stream the content which can be smartphone, computer, smart TV, media player, and more.

The media files are stored remotely and transmitted in sequential data packets from a server to a client. On the viewer’s device, the media is played immediately while the rest of the file is continuously transmitted a few seconds at a time over the internet. In case of downloading, the entire file is first saved on the device’s hard drive and only played once the download is complete.

Media streaming service have helped people cut the cord on traditional satellite TV subscriptions and cable. They can now watch their favorite piece of content based on their preference, timing, language, and more.

While commuting, cooking, or relaxing, your entertainment is right in your hands. All they need is an internet connection and connected device. There is no more waiting to watch a fixed slot show or movie and from classic entertainment to latest releases, everything is accessible right on your smartphone, tablet, laptop and other smart devices. Most importantly, people only pay for the content they need to watch and there are subscription plans to fit different budgets.

Advantages of media streaming service over traditional viewing

The way we consume video content has drastically shifted from traditional cable and satellite viewing to media streaming services. However, there are key differences between both the popular methods of viewing.

• Flexibility – In a traditional cable connection, you have to watch a movie at a specific time and in case you miss it, you have to wait for the same movie to be aired in future. When we were young,  our whole family gathered at the living room to watch a weekend movie on cable television. With time, the way we consume content has changed. Now you have the flexibility to watch at any time, place, date and what not. You may resume, pause, watch in slots and do everything that adjusts to your busy schedule.
• Content collection – In a typical TV setup, you are limited to a few channels and shows. Basically, everything depends on your cable or satellite provider. Streaming media services on the other hand have an extensive range of content, including shows, movies, documentaries from different providers. You can easily find the content that best suits your preference and interest.
• Cost – With a media streaming service, you have to only pay for the content you want to watch. Some streaming services even offer account sharing, allowing access to the same account with different profiles which further reduces the cost. In cable television, you have to pay a certain amount every month for limited channels.
• Availability – On streaming services, viewers with disabilities, those hard of hearing or deaf can easily watch content with subtitles and closed captioning. Also, there is multilingual content available on these platforms which make content availability to a large audience.

One of the key advantages of media streaming services over traditional viewing is the ability to adapt quickly to changing viewer preferences and trends. By staying informed with the latest streaming stats, providers can tailor their content and delivery methods to meet the demands of their audience more effectively.

Types of media streaming service

On a broader perspective, there are several media streaming services, including:

Video-on-demand services – On VOD platforms, content is delivered over the internet in real time. Viewers watch video content such as movies and shows as per their convenience on a range of supported devices. Viewers usually pay a subscription fee to watch content. Examples include HBO Max, Disney Hotstar, and Netflix.

Live streaming services – live streaming services broadcast real-time events, such as live news, events, concerts and viewers watch them at the same time at which they happen. Some live streaming services allow viewers to engage, comment, and interact with fellow viewers and hosts in real-time. Videos on most streaming platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are broadcast live as they happen.

Educational streaming services – These platforms provide educational content, such as instructional videos and online courses. They cover a range of topics and subjects like engineering, technology, physics and anything that educates a learner. They can be free as well as paid or a mix of both. Examples include Khan Academy, edX, and Coursera.

Music streaming services – On these services, users listen to music, create custom playlists and choose from a huge library of music including songs, podcasts, playlists and favorite creators. Some of the features are free while to avail more features like ad-free music and offline download, users need to pay a subscription fee. Spotify, YouTube Music are popular music streaming services.

How does a media streaming service work?

Media streaming services work by continuous transmission of media files from the server to client device in real-time which is known as streaming. The media file playing on the user’s device is actually stored on a remote server. On playback request, the file is transmitted in sequential data packets which are instantly streamed. Without having to download media content on the device, users access and consume media content.

• Content upload – The creators upload the media content such as videos on a video hosting platform or server, where it is stored.
• Encoding – The uploaded media file is converted into digital format to transmit it over the internet in proper format. The process involves transcoding, compression without affecting the video quality and bitrate encoding.
• Delivery – Most media streaming services use Content Delivery Network (CDN) to store content in the proxy servers nearest to the user location. It ensures that the content delivery is fast, latency and buffering free. Upon a playback request, a small chunk of data (first few seconds of media file) start streaming.
• Buffering – As soon as the content is streamed, the streaming media player preloads a few seconds of stream ahead of time to ensure uninterrupted content stream playback.

TCP vs UDP protocols for media streaming

There are two popular transport protocols to transmit data packets over a network, User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

UDP is a connectionless protocol without any dedicated connection between the sender and receiver device. It is a fast protocol but not reliable as data packets may be lost or arrive out of order and there is no method to retransmit lost packets.

TCP on the other hand establishes a dedicated connection and data flow happens in series. At the receiving device, each data packet is acknowledged and there is a mechanism to retransmit lost packets and ensure correct sequential transmission. This also makes TCP slower but more reliable.

Features to look for in a media streaming server

A media streaming server converts or encodes a media file into a data format and delivers content over the internet across a range of devices. It is dedicated to streaming high-quality media content to clients and comes with added features like codec, broadcast-quality content, adaptive streaming, unflagging reliability, and support for various streaming protocols.

• Streaming protocols – to ensure compatibility across multiple devices and browsers, the media streaming server must support various streaming protocols like DASH and HLS.
• Scalability – capable of handling a large number of simultaneous requests with ease to scale up and down
• Adaptive streaming – media streaming servers adaptive streaming technology dynamically adjust the video quality as per user’s network speed. The bitrates and video quality is automatically adjusted to deliver smooth playback.
• Security – media streaming servers must have robust security measures in place like secure streaming protocols, content protection, security updates, encryption and more.

Technical aspects of media streaming service

Bandwidth – maximum amount of data unit of time that a transmission medium like an internet connection can handle. It is measured in bits per second(bps), Megabits per second(Mbps), or Gigabits per second(Gbps)

Bitrate – the amount of data that is actually transmitted over a network in a given time. Higher the bitrate, higher the video quality but consumes more bandwidth and vice-versa.

Buffering – process of pre-loading data segments while streaming video content. It makes a stream run smoothly as the video is played before the entire video loads. Buffering is good unless that is noticeable due to network issues or bandwidth problems

Latency – time delay between a media stream request and the start of media playback. It is caused by several factors like processing delays and network congestion. Low latency ensures smooth and fast streaming while high latency makes the player wait before the playback starts.

Codec – compression technology with two components, encoder for file compression and decoder to decompress. Codec examples include H.264, H.265, VP9, and AAC

Adaptive bitrate streaming – technique used by many streaming services to adjust the media bitrate to match the available bandwidth. In times of low connectivity and fluctuating bandwidth, the content is streamed uninterrupted and smoothly.

Security issues with media streaming

Video transmission over the internet creates security risks. With millions of users streaming premium content on the web, it’s no surprise that there is a rapid increase in piracy and misuse of content and personal information.

• Unauthorized access and sharing – if some unauthorized person accesses your account or media files, there is risk of data breach and video piracy. There needs to be a mechanism to restrict access. Latest technologies like DRM secure your premium content for unauthorized access, sharing, and copying.
• llegal downloading and streaming – When someone gets access to a media file, in seconds, the content is leaked and made available on the web for free. It is a serious issue faced by the media industry and every year, many economies suffer huge revenue loss.
• Malware attacks – A big security concern in media streaming is injection of malwares and viruses in the streaming media. It can potentially infect a device or system and gain access to the personal files and data.
• Geo-restriction regulations – There are various governing regulations in some countries that restrict certain types of content. There are legal penalties if content is served in those regions. Hence, it’s important to have geo-restriction availability in a media streaming service.
• Credential sharing – A common consumer behavior and revenue loss for streaming providers, credential sharing poses significant security risks. Anyone unauthorized can easily access the media files and no one knows how long the password sharing chain grows. Media streaming providers have a limited number of sign-in users and accounts, restricted password sharing, and OTP-based login.

VdoCipher – DRM secure media streaming service provider

Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology protects digital contents like videos, files, audios from piracy, unauthorized access, sharing, and distribution. Without DRM security in place, videos can be easily downloaded and shared, leading to copyright infringement and revenue loss for the creators. DRM makes piracy very difficult and ensures secured distribution of content and accessibility by only authorized users.

VdoCipher, a secure video hosting platform offers Hollywood-Grade DRM encryption to secure your videos from illegal downloads and piracy. Being a direct partner with Google and deploying Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM, videos streamed via VdoCipher cannot be hacked or downloaded using any internet plugin or software.

DRM is the highest available security for securing video content and used by streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Over 3500 media and elearning customers from over 120+ countries rely on VdoCipher to host and securely stream their premium videos.

What VdoCipher offers:

Multi-DRM Security – videos are secured from unauthorized downloads and access using the highest available encryption technologies, Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM.

Dynamic Watermarking – users can add dynamic watermarks over their video with customizations for color, size, and transparency. Details like email, user ID are dynamically displayed on the videos which discourage screen capture and establish a unique identity.

Secure offline downloads in apps – VdoCipher iOS native SDK allows secure offline downloads on device. You can add time validity for the downloaded video inside Android app

Screen Capture block in Android and iOS Native app – VdoCipher native SDK integration at the hardware level blocks screen capture. It is a very useful features when it comes to video piracy and copyright infringement

Smart HTML5 Video Player – Our customizable video player comes with multi-lingual subtitle support, dynamic controls, adaptive bitrate streaming and more. You can add themes, change colors, add chapters, and change playback speed. Add overlay buttons using Javascript API.

Ready to use VdoCipher Plugin – We have plugins for WordPress and Moddle to give you complete control over your videos. VdoCipher WordPress plugin seamlessly integrates with most popular WP membership plugins and top LMS such as LearnDash, LearnPress, and LifterLMS. Learn about VdoCipher Moodle plugin and how to upload video on Moodle.

Fair Pricing – We offer plans to suit every business need, be it individual creators, small businesses, elearning/media platforms or enterprises. Our paid plans start from $99 and scale up to a custom model. Each plan varies with storage space and utilized bandwidth.

Customer support – we have a dedicated customer support team to address general to core technical issues. The team is reachable on email, call, WhatsApp

FAQs

How much is a media streaming service pricing?

Based on the features and subscription plans, subscription pricing varies. While some offer free trials for say 30 days while others charge a monthly or annual subscription fee to access content.

Do media streaming service have multi-device support?

Yes, most of them allow users to access their account on multiple devices including smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and computers.

What are the advantages of a media streaming server?

Better control over media content, multi-device accessibility, latency and buffering free media streaming, and features like adaptive streaming.

Jyoti

Jyoti began her career as a software engineer in HCL with UNHCR as a client. She started evolving her technical and documentation writing skills to become a full-time Content Marketer at VdoCipher.

The post Guide to Media Streaming Service appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

We see that in many cases, the first idea that comes to the video creator is to self-host videos. This means having an in-house team to handle video streaming & hosting technology. However, handling the video hosting on their own end is often not technically and economically feasible. A lot of businesses realize this only after spending valuable time and resources into developing an inefficient video hosting infrastructure. Many IT service companies that do not have video as a primary offering also come to this realization at some point.

Here we list the primary reasons as to why you should not self host videos.  Most of these recommendations apply to both high-budget and economy users, as both the service offerings and price points of premium online video platforms (OVPs) deliver better returns on investment than could be obtained from self-hosting videos.

What is Self Hosted Video?

In the context of video distribution, self-hosting video is the process of uploading and storing video files to your website or some other rented webspace.

Also, there are different ways to host videos on your website or blog. The most popular method is to use a video hosting service like YouTube or VdoCipher. These video hosting platforms allow you to upload your videos and embed them directly on your site. 

Self hosting videos is another way to host the videos on your own server. But it requires more technical work on your part but also gives you more control over the videos. You can choose how the videos are displayed. Finally, to host your videos, you can also use services like Amazon S3. It is a more expensive option but offers more flexibility and control.

Reasons Why Self Hosted Videos are Not a Good Choice

There are several reasons why self-hosted videos are not a good idea.

• One of the biggest reasons is that they are not as reliable as hosted videos on a trustworthy video hosting provider. If your video hosting goes down, so do your videos. This can be a major problem if you rely on your videos for your business and marketing.
• Another issue with self-hosted videos is that they can be costly. Hosting videos can be expensive, and if you’re not careful, you may spend more than you would on a professional video hosting provider. When you are self hosting video content, you will have to pay for the bandwidth (data transfer), which could be significant.
• Finally, self-hosted videos are prone to security risks. If your video is hacked, it could be illegally downloaded or may be used to spread malware or viruses. It could hamper your reputation and revenue generation and lead to low customer retention.

Server and CDN setup, Scaling, Automation for streaming

When hosting videos on static web pages, each time the webpage loads the video is loaded as well. Handling 100s of users loading your video player each minute would require multiple cores of servers and Content Delivery Network implementation. The video hosting infrastructure should have the capacity to serve users at peak times, when there are maximum users on the page.
It is a lot different doing these for static sites & video stuff. Handling multiple cores of servers, implementing CDN, ensuring it goes well during peaks and scales well, is a tough job. Here is an example to explain better.

Consider a webpage that hosts a 5-minute video, getting 100 pageviews in a minute. These 100 users who came within a minute on the web page were in real time loading the page and requesting objects from server. These server requests were being generated at different milliseconds – there were never 100 simultaneous users, they had loaded the page at different milliseconds. While all the other page elements are loaded at different times within the one minute window, in the case of video every user is simultaneously fetching content. For a 5 minute video all the users will be fetching content at same millisecond level from servers, overloading the server hosting your website. This can therefore overload the server, and lead to your website crashing. For this reason optimization of hosting infrastructure requires that your video hosting and website hosting be on separate servers. Setting up a separate server for handling videos would again require a whole new server setup process, adding to your responsibilities considerably.

Protecting Videos from Download and Piracy

If you choose to self host videos , you would most likely be providing a direct video video URL from your video hosting server to the site. This can make your video vulnerably to download from a lot of free downloaders and plugins such as IDM and Download Helper. These plugins are widely available on the web, which leads to loss of revenue from content owing to video piracy. Secure Online Video Platforms would safeguard your content from online video piracy.

Encoding for multiple devices & Bitrates

Currently the video codecs segment is highly fragmented. Apart from Chrome, which supports almost all the popularly used codecs (H.264, WebM, Ogg), none of the web browsers supports all the major codecs. For instance, Safari and Internet Explorer support only H.264 encoding and not WebM or Ogg, whereas Firefox, the next most popular browser after Chrome, does not support H.264 codecs. When self-hosting videos, you would need to transcode specifically in each of the codecs. Encoding is again a server + CPU intensive process. A different file is needed when viewing a video on a phone and when viewing the video on your PC or HD television. You would need to transcode videos for desktop, iOS and android separately. Also encoding is required for different bitrates, so that your viewers can watch your videos across all devices smoothly and seamlessly.

Video Player – Controls, Adaptive, Customization

Video.js is a JavaScript and CSS library that is used as an HTML5 video player. Using the Video.js library requires a great level of coding. For this reason it is recommended that you opt for a secure online video platform (OVP) over coding from scratch. Apart from the initial setup, additional customizations required are adding desired colors, themes, bitrates, sizes and adaptation to aspect ratio. This customization is required to allow video playback across multiple devices and browsers.

Costs of Large development team & Time to launch Video business

If you are willing to setup your own video infrastructure in-house, it is important that you look at the bottomline of costs and time of development. This includes spending on the development team, at which point you would need to understand salary costs of developers. Besides, in-house development would take months to launch, in which period you would need to bring together a team for setting up the video infrastructure and understanding the hosting requirements. Besides the one-time setup costs, you would need a dedicated team to troubleshoot problems. VdoCipher online video platform has the necessary video infrastructure, and our support ensures that your videos faces minimal downtime. You can get started with using VdoCipher in just about 10 minutes, and can integrate your website with our hosting service in 3 days, with full support from our customer experience team. VdoCipher uses AWS & Akamai at backend to ensure great cloud availability.

Still not convinced? Shawn Hesketh at WP101 has written a comprehensive post on why you should never host your own videos.

For a full version 30-day free trial of our secure and reliable streaming solution, register for a free demo at www.vdocipher.com

FAQs

What is the difference between self-video hosting and professional video hosting services?

Professional video hosting services usually offer more storage space and bandwidth, as well as better security and video player with added functionalities. They may also offer more advanced features, such as the ability to stream live videos or directly embed videos on your website.

On what factors does a video’s bandwidth consumption depend?

For a specific video, calculating the bandwidth usage mainly depends on the video’s resolution, bitrate, and length.

Why are self-hosted videos insecure compared to videos hosted on commercial hosting platforms?

Self-hosted videos may be more susceptible to unauthorized access and malware attacks, as they are often not as well-protected as those hosted by a third-party provider. They are highly prone to video piracy or illegal distribution as they are not securely encrypted. In case of the hosting server crashes, the self hosted videos are likely to be deleted or lost.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Why Not to Host Your Own Videos? Challenges in Self-hosting videos appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

The main encrypted video streaming protocols in use by most other streaming providers are:

1. HTTP Live Streaming – HLS Encryption with AES-128
2. AES 128 Encryption & Sample AES 128 Encryption.
3. Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) and RTMP Encrypted (RTMPE)

HLS encryption, with AES-128 bit encrypted streaming, is widely marketed as a secure video encryption streaming protocol used for video protection. Indeed, certain security features have been built into these streaming protocols. However, by themselves, HLS Encrypted, DASH, and RTMPE are not sufficient to protect your content. Their security flaws lie in:

• Partial video encryption of streaming content
• Open key exchange mechanism for decryption

Why Only Video Encryption is not good enough?

The video encryption that these protocols offer is not foolproof.

Suppose, you have bought a state-of-the-art lock for your home. One that even the most masterful locksmiths cannot breakthrough. But then, well, you leave your key under the door-mat. Does your state-of-the-art lock still ensure state-of-the-art security for your home?

Many tools are widely available that exploit security vulnerabilities in encrypted streaming protocols. Tools such as IDM, Video Download Helper, and RTPMDump can even download content that has been encrypted, opening the gates for pirates to download and share your content. These tools bypass the video encryption by finding out the key to access the video, without bothering about the video encryption itself.

Although widely used, these streaming protocols are not the only streaming protocols that can be used. VdoCipher uses a modified version of the existing streaming protocols to increase video security, and minimize bandwidth usage.

How VdoCipher’s DRM Based Video Encryption Protects Your Content?

Here we explain how VdoCipher’s Encrypted Video Streaming works, and how our DRM encrypted video streaming technology is hackproof. We explain the complete workflow that our video DRM uses. Steps 5 and 6 of the video streaming workflow are the key differentiators that set us apart from the competition.

B2C or B2B marketplaces also often require features over and beyond video security. VdoCipher fulfills all major requirements for secure video hosting. The complete set of features that VdoCipher offers for enterprise video hosting may be found here.

1. Upload – The video content is uploaded by the registered customer through Desktop, FTP, DropBox, directly from the server, and direct from URL. VdoCipher supports all typical video formats.
2. Transcoding for Protected Streaming – At VdoCipher, we encrypt videos with DRM encryption protocol & multiple bitrates.  Each device (Android, IOS, Desktop) has its own encrypted version of the file. It is in this format that the encrypted streaming takes place in. After the user uploads the video, VdoCipher converts content into an encrypted format. The video is transcoded for optimization at multiple bitrates so that viewers on networks of any quality can conveniently view videos.
3. Storage of Encrypted Content – The videos are stored securely on Amazon’s AWS S3 servers using our own server-side video encryption technology, creating a double layer of protection.
4. DRM Encrypted Video Transfer – Differentiator – Now the encrypted content has to be streamed to the final viewer interface, be it app or browser. Unlike many other media streaming service protocols, there are two key differences: Firstly, the entire stream (not partial) is encrypted using a non-public key whose exchange mechanism is hidden (Via Google Widevine DRM & Apple Fairplay DRM for all platforms). Others like RTMP does it partially and not fully secure. Secondly, the transfer of this encrypted content is not through direct access to the video file. There is a one time URL that is generated and the content is transferred in different chunks to optimize streaming.
5. Licensing & Authentication – Differentiator – If the video has a direct video URL that can be shared, then the encrypted video streaming has completely ineffective security. This is because there can be multiple browser playback of the same video, and therefore the video can be easily downloaded. Our key service differentiator is that we have One Time generated dynamic video URLs. These URLs are accessed only through custom video embed codes, allowing licensing duration for each single video stream. This prevents any URL based sharing.
6. Decryption & Playback – Differentiator – Finally, the encrypted stream content is decrypted inside the player with a dynamic key. Our DRM based key transfer protocol is fundamentally different from the public key transfer protocol in cases of HLS, HTTPS, and RTMPE Encrypted Streaming Protocols. A private key transfer between the website and our API signifies that it is not possible for hackers to decrypt our streams. The One Time video encryption that we use is theoretically and practically hack-proof. We regularly update our authentication mechanism to keep the security features up to date. Video licensing and playback are combined to generate customizable viewer specific watermarks. Within the watermark offering, IP address, Email ID  and User ID can be shown as a light transparent watermark, to identify a playback session by the viewer.
7. Result – Progressive High Secure Adaptive Video Streaming – Through this 6-step Video Hosting, DRM based Video Encryption, and Streaming process, VdoCipher is able to provide a progressive high-security video streaming with future buffer possible. This is also different from RTMP which does not maintain any buffer and can be quite erratic as a result.  Also, once a part of a video is buffered it remains conserved, even when the viewer seeks back or forth. This ensures the fastest loading times and minimal bandwidth usage for secure video streaming.

What Is Video Encryption?

Video encryption is the process of encoding your video so that it can not be accessed by anyone without the encryption key. This stops any unwanted view or even download of the video. This puts a stop to any unwanted view or even download of your videos. 

The videos are encrypted with the help of encoding software and hardware to protect the video content. When a user tries to access the encrypted video. Pirates will get an encrypted file playing via an online video player on their website or app. 

What Is DRM Video Encryption?

Video encryption does a pretty good job to secure videos. Breaking encryption just by brute force might take ages to get access to the video. But there’s a catch even to it, as I mentioned in the beginning, all this encryption would mean nothing if a pirate can easily get access to the encryption key.

This is where DRM comes in, DRM protects the encryption key so that it can not be easily accessed by a malicious user. So, DRM video encryption not only helps in encrypting the video but also protects the encryption key so that a pirate can not access the video via any hack.

Detailed explanation on all VdoCipher security features (DRM encryption, url authentication, dynamic watermarking, screen capture prevention for certain device/browsers, Geo restriction). It is a lengthy video (28 min), but we bet that you won’t have any questions unanswered on video protection after watching this.

Also, feel free to check out our video encryption software, all you need to do is signup and upload your video. We take care of the encryption part, all you need to do is just embed your video on the page and voila, it’s done.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Encrypted Video Streaming: Standard Technologies & VdoCipher Compared appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Offline Encoder & Converters For Compressing Video Size & Formats

1.  WinFF for Windows

   Please visit this link to donwload the software
   http://winff.org/html_new/

   1-  Add the videos using the tool button.
   2- Choose MPEG-4 in the Convert-to.
   3- Select MPEG-4 1080p as the preset.
   4- Click on options to show more tabs.
   5- Go to video tab.
   6- Enter 4500 as the video bitrate (units is 2500kbps).  This is the bitrate we have experienced high enough to be HD, Users can also try with 2500 or 3500 kbps. It shall also work fine for most of the cases , specially if the movement in the video is quite less.
   7- Tick the checkbox 2 pass below it.
   8- Click on convert tool button.
   9- Wait for the video to complete.
   10- This process might consume high CPU.

2. VLC Media Player for MAC & Windows compression of video

   It is quite unknown fact that even open source VLC media player can be used as an offline encoder to convert and change videos. Here are the steps –

   • Go to Media > Convert/Save >  In file tab add your raw video or audio file.
   • Click on the  “down arrow” mark on the Convert/Save button and Select “Convert”.
   • Now, provide the format in the “Profile” drop down, also provide the destination source.
   • Click on “Start”,  the conversion will start and after the completion, the converted file will be available in the destination source.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

3. Prism Video Converter for Windows & Mac

http://www.nchsoftware.com/prism/

It is quite easy to use software to convert and resize videos. There is both a free and commercial version available. The UI is quite clean and it is almost drag and drop.

For online encoding, VdoCipher has also a customized detailed UI + API trans-coding setup for enterprises. All popular video formats (more then 15 ) are supported , video size, bitrates , type of encoding all can be specified. By default VdoCipher converts videos to its own proprietary encrypted format but for large enterprise cases it does custom video transcoding as well. If you want to know more about, what is transcoding, you can visit the blog linked.

VdoCipher Transcoding

Register for a full version 5 GB Free trial at www.vdocipher.com

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post 3 Offline Encoder to Compress Video: MAC & Windows appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

1. Mediteran Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina
   

   

2. Indian Melbourne Film Festival, Australia

   “DRM Security from piracy & Viewer Experience were two critical requirements for our Film Festival which VdoCipher met quite well. We were integrating in short notice, and the integration was quick”

   –Mitu Bhowmick Lange , Director,  Indian festival of Melbourne

   

3. Festival Ecra, Brazil

   

4. Kyiv Film Festival, Ukraine

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Global Film Festivals across 4 Continents Relying on VdoCipher appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

To your help, we have compiled a list of the top 12 online video downloaders that people generally use to save video for later offline viewing. If you are a content owner looking to prevent piracy from these downloaders, try out DRM Technology enabled VdoCipher. It is a sure-shot way to save your self from all these nuisances. We are giving below here a review of all the video downloaders and some of their key points.

List of 14 Common Video Downloaders

1. Video Download Helper

It is a plugin on firefox and technically the most advanced one. We have seen it to be able to download most of the content on web (HLS, HTML5, MP4 streaming) . A uniqueness about this downloader is the frequency with which it is updated to keep hacking into any slight changes in common video streaming systems. Seems, a large community is behind this plugin trying best possible means to grab streaming video content.
No. of downloads – 44,00,000 + (official plugin stats)

2. Internet Download Manager (IDM)

Another popular software to be installed on computer. Uniqueness is its beautiful UI to manage , pause, continue & categorize downloads. Also, it seems to provide the highest speed for downloads.

3. RTMP Dump

A downloader (installable version) to download videos streamed through RTMP protocol, otherwise not so easy to download protocol.

4. Savefrom.net

This video downloader works directly from your web browser. It is a simplistic online video downloader that only needs a link to the video to download it. You can download a media file either from the SaveFrom.net Helper or by saving it in your browser. The former option allows you to save a video in more formats than the latter one.

The SaveFrom.net Helper also allows you to save videos in full HD or 4k. SaveFrom.net works as a YouTube video downloader as well as a Facebook video downloader. The tool also works on Vimeo, Daily Motion, Tik Tok, Instagram, and VK. The only con with this popular web video downloader is that it comes with a lot of ads.

5. aTube Catcher

No. of downloads: 120,000,000+

This is a Windows-based video downloader that covers all the fields. The tool comes with a huge list of supported video sharing sites to pick from. It can convert the downloaded videos to several various formats. The built-in screen and sound recorder allows capturing live streaming videos you might not otherwise be able to download.

Also, this is one of the few video downloaders that support downloading many videos at once. The software also has a built-in burning feature to create CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray disks from the saved videos. You might find sneaky adware o n the installer, though!

6. ClipGrab

ClipGrab is a fast and free online video downloader that also works as a converter. ClipGrab works as a Vimeo, Facebook, and YouTube video downloader. In only one easy step, you can download or convert videos to MPEG4, MP3, or other file formats.

The web video downloader also comes with built-in search functionality so that you can easily find a video to download right from within the software. While the downloader allows you to select a video quality of your choice, you can also download videos in HD. The only con of LipGrab is that it bundles adware with the installer package.

7. JDownloader

No. of downloads: 515,851 

JDownloader is a quick and easy tool to simplify the downloading process from One-Click-Hosters. JDownloader facilitates faster video downloads with multi-thread download technology. This is one of the few online video downloaders that can simultaneously download several videos.

A LinkGrabber monitors the clipboard to detect and identify copied video links. Moreover, a remote download management feature allows users to monitor downloads when away from their computers. You can also download regular files from file-hosting sites. The only con is that the bundle comes with an adware. Choose custom installation and skip the adware.

8. Catchvideo.net

Catchvideo.net has a simple toolbar where you can insert the link to the video to download it. Save your video in many forms such as MP4, WebM, or 3GP using this free online video downloader. The tool also offers an extension for your browser so that you can download videos more easily as you surf the internet.

Use Catchvideo as your YouTube, Vimeo, Daily Motion, and Facebook video downloader. This tool, however, makes it clear that video with copyright can’t be fetched using this software. Additionally, Catchvideo comes with several other tools, such as a Facebook video downloader for Android and a tool to mix HD YouTube videos. The only con here is that the tool supports the highest resolution of 720p.

9. Converto.io

This tool helps you as a web video downloader for clips on the internet. Converto.io prides itself in its ease of use. Simply paste a YouTube video URL into the tool and click on Conver to download or convert your video.

You can also edit the filename, ID3 tags, excerpts from the video, and the video quality before downloading. The only con here is the annoying ads on the site

10. Any Video Converter

This one is a sophisticated yet free video converter and downloader. It can help you download videos in a few clicks from hundreds of sites. Seamlessly convert any video to any file format. Leverage its fast conversion speed and excellent video quality.

It also boasts a built-in video editor and the capability to burn videos on CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray disks. The free version only allows downloading one video at a time.

11. DistillVideo

This one is a safe, fast, and free video downloader that prevents the original quality from getting marred by re-encoding. Download HD videos on DistillVideo of 1080P, 26K, 4K, and 8K video qualities. Download videos in no time from a long list of websites including the premium ones.

Eliminate sound from a video while processing. The tool does not need you to download anything.

12. KeepViD & SaveVid

Keepvid – asks for the video url and detects and downloads video file on its own. Savevid is similar to Keepvid

13. ssyoutube

A site specially made to download youtube videos.

14. Audials

A software with high end technology. Like download helper, the detection of any video streaming technology and is grabbing is quite easy and advanced here. It can crack through some moderate level hacks implemented.

How to Prevent website/app videos from being downloaded?

All the above-mentioned tools are based on detecting the video URL and fetching it from server to download content. What if – there is no URL to the video file, even more, if the content being streamed is not a video but an encrypted file with highly secure Widevine CDM and Apple Fairplay DRM based key exchange mechanism? We do exactly the same at VdoCipher. We help secure videos and increase revenues for our e-learning and media customers, saving any revenue loss due to video piracy. Find out more about on how to prevent video download on the blog linked.

Popular Downloaders: VdoCipher protects all

Check out a free 30 day trial at www.vdocipher.com

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Top 14 Popular Video Downloaders: How they work & How to Secure ? appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

We have listed the most popular web-based services or OTT Platforms in India for 2019. Some of them are national & international while some of them are regional platforms in regional languages.

Netflix 

Netflix is an  OTT Platform that allows our users to watch a wide variety of honor winning serials, movies, documentaries, web series, and many more on-demand. Netflix which is without advertisement allows an up level of entertainment experience. Netflix is like our Personal TV and we have all the controls to switch anything. Netflix is also pursuing classic Bollywood titles and the best of regional shows. 

 With NetFlix! We can enjoy unlimited content as per our interests. There’s always something interesting to find, and more TV shows and films are included each month!

Netflix subscription is a month-to-month membership that starts on the date you sign up. India at a beginning membership cost of Rs.500 every month and goes up to Rs.800 every month after a free trial of a month.

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video is also a video streaming service or OTT service. These allow Bollywood and Hollywood Movies, TV Shows, Kids Shows and some more. We can watch thousands of Videos and Series with no extra cost. It is also providing many things that are also on Netflix but not all things at a very low cost. So, this can give a tough competition to other OTT companies. 

Prime not only provide English oriented content but also regional and Hindi content. You can join Prime to watch the latest movies as well as award-winning Amazon Originals. Your Prime subscription presently also includes promotion free music alongside unlimited free, quick delivery. Exclusive access and deals.

Subscription Plan: Join prime at Rs.129/month or Rs.999/year.

Hotstar

Hotstar is an online video streaming platform. It is possessed by Novi Digital Entertainment Private Limited, a completely claimed auxiliary of Star India Private Limited.

Hotstar as of now offers more than 100,000 hours of TV content and movies across over 9 languages, and each sport covered live. Very developed video streaming technology and a high thoughtfulness nature of quality make Hotstar the most complete video goal for Over The Top (OTT) video purchasers.

Hotstar has begun another membership plan of Rs 365, which is winding up increasingly prominent nowadays. 

Voot

Voot is a video streaming service on-demand, part of Viacom 18 Digital Ventures, the advanced arm of Viacom 18 – one of the nation’s biggest developing media systems. 

With more than 35,000 hours of amazing content for users with different choices and preferences, covering Colors Marathi, (Hindi), Kannada, Bangla,  Super and Colors Gujarati, MTV, Nickelodeon,Viacom18 Movies, Voot offers the greatest TV Shows, Blockbuster Movies, your preferred Toons and Voot Originals, It also covers drama, spoofs, comedies, and almost everything.                                   

The following are the best Voot features: channel-wise discovery, Chromecast support, Language and Genre sorting, choose the video quality, and so on.

Totally Free!

Viu

Viu is another OTT Platform which provides us an amazing experience online, for the users who wish to devour advertisement-free content and experience the excellent version.

Viu, Over-The-Top (OTT) has recently launched its services in March, 2019 in South Africa. It has already its services in 16 countries including India.

  In spite of the fact that it likewise has a free form with a great many long hours of content. The services gloat of 17,000+ long hours of  Bollywood and Indian local films in 10+ languages.

Subscription charges of Rs.99 every month following a one month trial. 

Zee 5

At Zee5, Over The Top (OTT) Platform, we genuinely accept that for excitement to wake up, you have to feel it. That is the place Zee5 acquires the upside of the language of your comfort! With 90+ live TV channels and 1.25 lac+ long periods of review over the language of English, Hindi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Punjabi making it a total video goal for OTT viewers. 

Zee 5 offers friendly client involvement with very developed video technology at fast speeds and perfectly clear sounds. Language Navigation, Seamless Video playback, Smart Content Search and suggestion make a video experience like no other.

 All you need is a good associated device. Tune into Zee5 now, in your language! This OTT broadcasting service from ZEE likewise has a top version which has a subscription of Rs.99 every month. 

SonyLiv

SonyLIV is the first premium Over-The-Top(OTT) service by Sony Pictures Networks India Private Limited (SPN), giving multi-screen commitment to users. It empowers users to find 20 years of rich content from the system channels of Sony.

They also provide a list of Movies, over all Sports, TV Shows like The Kapil Sharma show, Tarak Mehta ka Ulta Chasma  and Music, LIV Kids, LIV FITand more. Sony Liv is one of the best destinations for Audio/ Video from Sony Pictures Platform.It has more than 70000+ Hollywood and Bollywood movies.

 Most  of the content  offered is Free of Cost to the end client, few LIVE TV stations and Movies are offered at an excellent membership beginning from Rs.29/Week

Hoichoi

Hoichoi is another Over-The-Top(OTT) service mostly for Bengalis everywhere throughout the World. With a library of more than 500 Bengali Movies, Hoichoi features selective Original Shows and Shorts, with new content being included each month. There’s more – Hoichoi Films and Documentaries are coming very soon! 

Shoichi is a tribute to the affection got from the audience through the most recent two decades. Regardless of whether you are from Bengal or not, whether you live in Bengal or not… with Hoichoi, you would now be able to watch and appreciate constant Bengali entertainment on the web… whenever anyplace! 

They have two Subscription plan one is Rs. 499/year for one simultaneous stream and Rs. 699/year for two simultaneous streams.

ALTBalaji

ALTBalaji is a membership-based service.  Accessible over various interfaces going from work areas, PCs, tablets, advanced mobile phones to web prepared TV, ALTBalaji weds cutting edge innovation with grasping narrating.

ALTBalaji offers unique and selective stories. Particularly for Indians in the world, it has top-quality shows highlighting big names like celebrities, and award-winning directors, making ALTBalaji a genuine option in contrast to standard entertainment. Balaji Telefilms intends to connect straightforwardly to singular crowds, by giving them unique, select and customized appears, that they can easily access.

Subscription note : Rs 100*/ 3 months and Rs 300* /year.

Hulu

Hulu is the main premium service offering live and on-request TV and movies, with and without ads, both in and outside the home. Propelled in 2008, Hulu has developed to in excess of 25 million endorsers in the USA. Also, it is the main service that gives watchers moment access to current shows from each major U.S. communicate organize; libraries of hit TV arrangement and films.

You can have all the access to Hulu services as an Amazon- billed subscriber.

Usage of Video Hosting Platform

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post 10 Most Popular OTT Platforms in India 2019 appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Definition of IPTV

IPTV : Internet Protocol Television is a technology which allows you to watch TV utilizing Internet Protocol (IP) over LAN rather than over link or satellite. IP or Internet Protocol is the language that is utilized for moving information bundles between PC’s connected to the internet arrangement. IPTV is an endorser- based telecommunications systems with fast access station.

It is a system which streams through multicast content. It is overseen by a private system. It uses secure associations for its video content to have an immediate reach to their paid supporters. All the administration and operational undertakings are finished by the specialist co-op.

Clients can watch Live recordings, series, movies through web convention or internet by means of any medium like Broadband/web connection. IPTV underpins both Live TV (Multicasting) and the put-away recordings likewise called Video on Demand (Unicasting) services. IPTV is the best TV choice for the general population who are not necessarily interested in the telecast from their local city or country.

Few examples of companies which can operate via IPTV are Netflix, Hotstar, Amazon Prime, BBC’s iPayer and so forth.

What are some features of IPTV?

1. Live TV :  Watch movies and TV shows which appear at a particular communicate time.
2. Catch -up :  Watch TV episodes after they have been communicated.
3. VOD : Video on Demand enables you to pick what and when to watch.

IPTV Device : Set-Top Box

Since most TVs aren’t prepared for IPTV, you may require a set-top box that “deciphers” what you get over your internet connection into an arrangement that your TV can pursue. Your PC, then again , needn’t bother with anything to watch IPTV. When you sign up for a service, you can utilize it to stream anything you desire in any of the IPTV groups.

There are cases of casting whereyou can reflect your screen/mobile app to your TV, you can watch IPTV without a set-top-box. 

The Set Top Box is an equipment gadget which is similar in appearance to the set-top boxes that accompany link or satellite TVs. The cutting edge STBs are quite innovative with a processor and memory; ready to disentangle MPEG2 or MPEG4 encoded recordings. They cooperate with the middleware to interface the end client’s TV with the IPTV specialist co-op.

How does IPTV work?

There are three distinctive IPTV groups. We’ll investigate each one exclusively.

1. Video on Demand : VOD  is actually what it sounds like; you get video at whatever point you request it. Movies spilling sites are VOD suppliers. There’s no time limit on what you can watch (other than what the service as of now has the rights for). You advise the service what you want to watch, they send it to you through the web, and you watch it. Straightforward.
   Netflix,Hulu and Amazon Prime Video are well-known VOD services.(There are numerous littler, specialty service accessible, also.)

2. Time- Shifted Media:  In the event that you’ve watched “catch up Tv”, you would be comfortable with this kind of IPTV. This enable clients to watch shows that they missed when they have sufficient energy/time to do it.The significant difference between time-shifted media and VOD is that the content being shared has a restricted timeframe of realistic usability. You can’t return and watch a scene of a show that you missed quite a while back for example years ago in Catchup or time-shifted media.  In VOD, you can typically do that.A standout amongst the most prominent service that offers time-shifted media is BBC’s iPlayer. (on the off chance that you believe that VOD and time -moved media sound fundamentally the same as, you’re correct. It, for the most part, has to do with to what extent you’re ready to watch a show after it has ended.)

3. Live IPTV : Like communicate TV, you can likewise watch shows live on IPTV. Numerous individuals watch sporting occasions along these lines; it’s anything but difficult to stream a game on your telephone while you’re in a hurry. Other than being communicated over the internet rather than through conventional TV media, live IPTV is practically equivalent to a normal TV.

FOX Sports Go, CBS Sports HQ, Hulu Live TV, and sling TV all offer live IPTV.

Hybrid IPTV

Hybrid IPTV joins conventional TV services with IP-based ones. The greatest selling point is that everything is conveyed through a solitary box. This gives TV suppliers a chance to grow their contributions as their endorsers. 

It additionally makes it simpler to take off new items and services without totally upgrading the set-top box. It’s a decent method to change from a customary model to a progressively present-day one.

The current State of IPTV 

IPTV has been on a nonstop development over the most recent couple of years. The overall number of IPTV endorsers has now passed the 130 million imprint. The net augmentations of six million supporters are the most astounding in the most recent two years to end-2015. They were supported to a huge degree by the typical speculates, for example, China, which saw 3.7 million new IPTV endorsers sign up in  2015.

Europe and Asia are the main regions as far as the general number of IPTV users. As far as market revenues are considered, Europe and North America create a bigger portion of worldwide income. The revenue per client (ARPU) in China and India is lower but these are the quickest developing (and at last, the biggest markets) in Asia.

What does the Future hold for IPTV ?

IPTV has a decent future in our thought. Internet TV resembles a major city, you can discover what you are searching for yet once in a  while you need to look far and wide to get what you need. Once in a while, you get blended outcomes and in some cases, you stall out in rush hour gridlock. 

Having separate applications for everything sounds incredible to the content suppliers yet it sucks from a client point of view. How would I know where a specific arrangement is or am I getting the best incentives with three distinct memberships? 

Is IPTV a good business opportunity?

There is definitely a market out there and people are looking out for these services. However, there are certain stumbling blocks which one needs to be aware of-

1. Licensing the Content
2. Distribution and support
3. Discovery, Marketing, and Scale

What are the Benefits of IPTV?

1. One of the advantages of IPTV is its capability to get effectively integrated with other IP-based services, for example, VOIP or fast web. 
2.  It utilizes the current PC organize. Thus, no utilization of links and is without any issues. 
3.  It circulates live or prerecorded TV and video/sound over the previous system. 
4. Content stays in the system and just the substance that the shopper chooses gets conveyed to the client. 
5. The buyer has a more prominent decision over what they need to watch due to higher custom options usefulness than the standard communicates or digital TV administrations.

DRM security to prevent video piracy from IPTV

While IPTV brings an array of opportunity for content owners, broadcasters & a greater viewing experience for the millions of viewer; it also poses a potential risk of video piracy. If the stream which is being transferred is not DRM encrypted; people can hack it to record off the device or pass the stream illegally to some other portal. There are various technologies available for security in IPTV & Set top box. One common technology is Widevine DRM for Set-top boxes based on Android.

As most of the Set-top boxes are based on Android, Widevine DRM by Google is the Hollywood standard for security in IPTV. VdoCipher is a Google partner for implementing Widevine DRM and we provide free full version trial for it.

Important FAQs Around IPTV

What is IPTV and how does it differ from traditional TV broadcasting?

IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) streams TV content over the internet, offering on-demand access to a wide variety of programs, unlike traditional broadcast methods that have a fixed schedule.

What are the main types of IPTV services?

IPTV includes Video on Demand (VOD), time-shifted media, and live IPTV, each catering to different viewing preferences.

Do I need special equipment to access IPTV services?

While most modern devices support IPTV, some TVs may require a set-top box to decode the streaming content.

What are the benefits of IPTV over traditional TV services?

IPTV provides more flexibility, a broader range of content, interactive features, and integrates with other IP-based services, enhancing user experience.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post What is IPTV ? appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.