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.

In this blog I present statistics about the popularity of freely available video download tools. These downloader tools enable piracy of your proprietary video content. These tools in the form of software, plugins, sites and extensions are available quite freely across the web. These tools work against non secure video streaming sites to encourage easy video downloads.

Number of users of video download piracy tools

I have included the link to sources from where I have obtained the relevant numbers for the video download tools. For sites, I have taken the estimated annual unique visits from Alexa. Details for the top 10  video downloader tools are given here. Total number of video pirates are calculated at end.

Obvious Need & Source for Secure Video Streaming

To prevent such a huge number of illegal video downloads, there is an obvious demand for highly secure video streaming. An encrypted streaming technology that can block all these downloaders and sites from accessing protected video content.

VdoCipher provides video hosting with piracy protection technology for education and media businesses to help them stream content on their site or app in a most secure and smooth manner. 

Key features include highest security from video piracy through DRM encryption and watermarking technologies, and smoothest streaming at slow connections due to optimised encoding at lower sizes. The complete package features include AWS cloud hosting, smart video player, dashboard and APIs to manage and integrate content and offline secure playback in mobile apps.

Check out all these cool features with a free 30-day trial just by signing up here. *No Card details required.

Siddhant Jain

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

www.vdocipher.com/

The post How many use easy video download piracy tools? appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Piracy of copyrighted materials, including television shows and movies, continues to be a problem for the entertainment industry. The unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content, often referred to as piracy, costs the industry billions of dollars. Video Piracy can take many forms, including downloading or streaming copyrighted content without permission from the copyright holder, uploading copyrighted content to file-sharing websites, or copying copyrighted content onto removable media, such as a USB drive or CD.

Anti-piracy solutions have become a serious concern mainly because of the high cost of video content and the low price of pirated video files. Online video pirates will upload high-quality pirated videos, which are better in quality than the original videos. Pirated videos are available in high-definition (HD), ultra-high-definition (4K), and even higher quality. The price of pirated videos is also much lower or almost free than legal video files. In addition, users can directly download pirated videos in various video formats, such as mp4, avi, flv, and mkv.

Video Piracy and its impact

Video piracy is the unauthorized duplication, distribution, or sale of copyrighted video content. This can include the illegal streaming of copyrighted videos online, the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted videos, or the sale of pirated video content.

Video piracy has several impacts, both on the people who produce the videos and those who consume them. Many people pirate content because it is free, but there are also risks associated with piracy, including malware infections and identity theft. Copyright holders are increasingly using technology to track and identify pirates, and they may take legal action against those who infringe on their copyrights.

• For video producers, piracy can lead to a loss of revenue as people choose to watch pirated copies of videos rather than purchasing them legitimately. This can lead to a decline in the quality of the videos that are produced, as producers have less money to invest in their products. Additionally, piracy can lead to legal action being taken against those who produce or distribute pirated videos.
• For video consumers, piracy can lead to many problems. Firstly, pirated videos are often of lower quality than legitimate copies, so they may not be as enjoyable to watch. Additionally, pirated videos may contain malicious software which can infect the viewer’s computer. Finally, watching pirated videos may support and encourage the continued production of pirated videos, which ultimately harms the video industry as a whole.
• Pirated copies of movies and TV shows can be sold or traded. They are often of very poor quality, with missing or extra scenes, poor audio and video quality, incorrect aspect ratio, and are often incomplete or edited for easy access. Piracy can also be used to spread computer viruses or malware.

Digital Piracy and Security

Digital piracy and security are two of the most important issues in the world today. Piracy is the unauthorized copying or use of copyrighted material, such as music, movies, or software, often on the Internet. Security is the state of being protected from danger or harm. Digital piracy is a huge problem and hurts the people who create copyrighted material. For example, when people download music illegally, they are not paying the musicians or songwriters who created it. This can make it difficult for musicians and songwriters to make a living.

Digital piracy can also be dangerous. For example, when people download movies illegally, they may be downloading malware or viruses that can harm their computers. Additionally, downloading copyrighted material without paying for it is illegal.

Piracy of OTT Content

The recent upsurge in Over-The-Top (OTT) content piracy has been nothing short of alarming. In just the last few months, we’ve seen a string of cases involving the illegal downloading and streaming of popular shows and movies. The problem has become so prevalent that it’s no longer just a niche issue; it’s now a mainstream concern impacting both content creators and consumers.

There are a variety of factors that have contributed to the problem. Still, the two primary ones are the proliferation of cheap, easy-to-use streaming devices and the fact that many popular OTT services do not have robust anti-piracy measures in place. As a result, pirates have taken advantage of the situation and have been increasingly offering stolen content for free or for a fraction of the price of a legitimate subscription.

This has had a significant impact on the business model of OTT providers, who are now losing out on potential revenue from subscribers who cancel their subscriptions in favor of pirated content. It’s also having a negative impact on the quality of the content itself, as pirates are often more concerned with quantity over quality.

To best manage piracy, it is important to understand how much piracy truly costs the economy. Many economists believe that the actual effect of piracy on the economy and the job market has been vastly exaggerated.

A firm ‘Digital TV Research’ released stats that the U.S. economy alone will see $11.6 billion in revenue loss from video piracy by 2022, up from $9 billion in 2016. China is expected to lose $9.8 billion by 2022, and the Asia-Pacific region countries could lose nearly $20 billion in revenues. Overall, the estimated lost revenues from video piracy to total $51.6 billion by 2022.

Solutions to Piracy of Videos

There are numerous ways to prevent piracy of videos, and the most effective approach depends on the specific needs of the video owner. There are many ways to prevent piracy of videos, and the most effective solution will vary depending on the individual circumstances. However, some general tips to help reduce video piracy include:

• Use digital rights management (DRM) technology to protect your videos. DRM can help prevent unauthorized copying and distribution of your videos by encrypting them and making them difficult to copy or download.
• Usage of Watermarks or other visible identifiers on your videos. It deters potential pirates by clarifying that the video is your property and should not be copied or distributed without your permission.
• Using secure video hosting and streaming services. This can help to prevent your videos from being downloaded or streamed without your permission.
• Make sure your videos are not easily accessible. It means keeping them off public websites and making them only accessible to authorized users.
• Use encryption and other security measures to protect your videos. It helps make it more difficult for pirates to access and copy your videos.
• Stay up-to-date on anti-piracy measures. This can help you adapt and implement new solutions as they become available quickly.

These methods can effectively prevent piracy of videos, but they can also be costly and time-consuming to implement. Video owners should weigh the costs and benefits of each method before deciding on the best approach for their needs.

Anti Piracy Video Solution – VdoCipher multi-DRM

If you are thinking about downloading or streaming copyrighted content without permission, you should be aware of the risks and consequences of piracy. There are a few solutions to prevent video piracy, but the most effective anti-piracy video solution is to use a DRM encrypted video streaming technology.

VdoCipher DRM solution will encrypt the video content so that it cannot be copied or streamed without authorization. No Internet plugin or downloader can capture the video content. This ensures no illegal video downloads and the highest anti-piracy video solution to secure premium digital content and boost revenue from videos.

VdoCipher uses the same underlying encryption protocols that Netflix and Hotstar use to secure their content. We are a direct Google partner for the major encryption technology called Widevine DRM. Our pricing model is based on storage and bandwidth usage, which is an advantage for businesses to pay as they grow.

Illegal Download Prevention via DRM Encryption – DRM encryption ensures a highly secure key exchange mechanism and encoding of the content to make it unreadable without the correct key. A hack can not decrypt the content. We are a direct license partner for Google Widevine DRM and provide Apple Fairplay DRM integration. DRM providers like VdoCipher ensure your videos are stored and streamed in an encrypted format with the highest key exchange security. Multiple DRMs are used for device compatibility. We also provide APIs for DRM encryption.

Dynamic watermarking for screen capture blocking – VdoCipher offers a user-based dynamic watermark feature that allows a watermark (user email, user ID, IP, or timestamp). Customization options are available for colour, speed, transparency, and watermark size. Additional control features in terms of geo, IP restriction, and domain restriction are available.

Smart html5 video player – VdoCipher Smart HTML5 Player has dynamic player controls for the best viewing experience. With Playback speed controls, multi-lingual subtitles, and Adaptive Multi-Bitrate Playback support, stream HD content even at low internet connectivity. Other features include video analytics, theme option, and custom overlay.

Secure offline downloads in Android – You can enable users to download videos inside your app for offline viewing. Videos are not accessible outside the app and are protected from screen capture on Android and iOS.

FAQs

What is anti-piracy technology?

Anti-piracy technology is a term used to describe various technologies used to prevent or deter copyright infringement. This can include technologies used to avoid unauthorized access to copyrighted content or technologies used to track and identify copyright infringement.

How can I protect myself from video piracy?

There are several ways to protect yourself from video piracy, including using a copyright protection service or a digital rights management system. VdoCipher offers secure video hosting with Hollywood-Grade DRM Encryption using Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM.

How is video piracy related to software piracy?

The video and software industries are very similar. They both rely on copyright to protect the intellectual property of the content they produce, and they both face similar challenges. Video piracy is often a gateway to software piracy.

What are some of the most common forms of video piracy?

The most common forms of video piracy include unauthorized downloads, streaming, and copying.

What are the consequences of video piracy?

Video piracy can have a number of consequences for copyright holders, including lost revenue, decreased profits, and damage to the brand. It can also lead to criminal penalties for those caught engaging in piracy.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post Anti Video Piracy Solutions to deal with Piracy of Videos appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Online Video Piracy is Posing an Existential Threat to Premier League

Online video piracy is increasingly becoming an existential threat for the English Premier League. The Premier League is widely branded as the best league in the world ( often to the dismay of purists who prefer the more technical Bundesliga or the superstar La Liga). The popularity and scale of the Premier League is rising with the wave of record high broadcasting revenues.

The reliance on broadcasting revenues however means that the league needs to ensure that viewers remain on the authorized broadcasting networks, and not opt for illegal video streams. Online video piracy takes away substantial revenue from the broadcasters. This causes reduction in profit margins, making the broadcast deals much less valuable.

The English Premier League was created in 1992, when the clubs in the top tier of English Football broke away from the Football League. The motivation for the creation of the PL was the lucrative opportunity of negotiating an exclusive broadcast deal.

The value of the broadcast deals has skyrocketed over the past few years. From the initial £304 mn for five years of exclusive rights (1992-97) that BSkyB paid, Premier League’s current television deal is worth £5.136bn for three years (2016-19).

The money from the ever increasing deals has created a huge inflationary bubble in the Premier League. The result has largely been huge increase in player salaries and transfer prices. This has seen top world-class football talent being attracted by the Premier League’s largesse.

With the broadcasting deal for the period 2019-22 to be negotiated soon after the start of the 2017-18 season, the Premier League is under increasing pressure to combat online video piracy. Ensuring that the broadcaster’s revenue model, which is based on exclusivity, remains profitable is a high priority for the Premier League.

In this blog I seek to explain the business model of the media empire that is the Premier League. The profitability of this model is coming under increasing threat by the online video piracy tools – namely Kodi boxes and online video streaming sites.

History of Premier League Broadcasting deals

In 1992 Premier League shifted to paid satellite television network Sky Sports, after years of the First Division being shown on free to air games. The kickoff time for games was still 3PM, and live broadcast was not allowed. However delayed broadcasts signified that viewers could still watch their team from home without paying for the subscription.

After a bidding process between ITV Sports and BSkyB, with the alleged help of insider information, BSkyB came out victors. Sky bid £304million for a five year contract (although it eventually paid only £191million). This exclusive broadcast deal meant that football viewers would have to buy a Sky Sports subscription with their satellite tv network. This was unprecedented, as previously the live telecasts were available on free-to-air terrestrial networks. In bidding for the broadcast rights to the Premier League BSkyB bet the existence and growth of their TV network on the Premier League. The reasoning was that First Division football had a captive audience of devoted followers, who would pay up the steep subscription costs to be able to watch live football. This gamble paid off, as the company went from losses of £47 million in 1992 to profits before tax of £62 million the following year.

This subscription based revenue model definitely helped News Corporation expand their media and broadcasting empire. Sky TV earned profits before tax of £1.26bn in the period 2012-13.

These profit margins are however under pressure as the costs of acquiring the Premier League TV rights increase with each broadcast deal, and users begin to drop off the expensive services by relying on online video piracy. This pressure on both the costs and on the revenues means that the broadcasters face an existential threat from online video piracy.

Currently Sky Sports and BT Sports have the rights to show Premier League in the United Kingdom, while BBC has the rights to show only the highlights programme, Match of the Day , hosted by the charismatic Gary Lineker.

For the 2016-17 deal, of the £5.136bn payable to PL, Sky paid £4.176bn for 126 matches per season, whereas BT sports paid £960 mn for 42 matches per season. Sky also has first option on match picks for the weekend games, a majority of the second picks, and a large number of third picks as well.

Sky Sports and BT Sports try to recover these costs through their subscription packages, and from advertising. The revenue model for football depends much more on subscription than on advertising, because of the way the game is played and broadcast. Unlike in cricket where broadcasters have the opportunity to show ads after every 6-ball over, in live football streaming the broadcasters only have the half-time interval in which to show ads. Broadcasters do have opportunities to include ads on the screen during the game, as a footer or side ad, but the loss of value of user experience means that this source of advertising is used only in a limited manner.

Their two main sources of income are from viewers at home, and from their more lucrative Clubs and Pubs Packages, which are used to license pubs showing their games on matchdays. There is however substantial loss of revenue because of online video piracy in both these revenue chains. It is to combat revenue losses through unauthorized channels that the Premier League is aggressively pushing for measures against illegal video streaming and online video piracy channels. PL has taken different approaches for home viewers and for Pubs respectively.

Costs of subscription and the PL revenue model

To understand why users are resorting to online video piracy, it is important to understand the costs that viewers at home and pub owners incur for broadcasting Premier League games.

Currently the cheapest option for home viewers of the Sky Sports package is £36.50/month. The cheapest HD option would cost £58/month. It is in response to the high charges for this is the viewers at home are instead switching to online video piracy websites that offer football content at low prices or for free.

Sky uses the rateable value of pubs to determine pricing for Sky subscription for pubs. The rateable value in the UK is the value associated with a commercial building, based primarily on its size and location, besides other factors such as outdoor space and food and drink availability. These rates are, for a barkeeper interviewed by Hull Daily Mail, in the range of $1,000 per month for Sky and $400 per month for a BT Sports subscription.

The Sky Package for pubs covers 126 Premier League games and England home cricket matches. Additional rates are charged for F1 racing packs. These high costs for the Pub package add a major budgetary constraint for pub owners. With their backs to the wall amid rising costs and competition from other pubs, many pub owners opt to stream Premier League content routed through set-top boxes loaded with software (Kodi boxes) that stream games from illegal video streaming servers. This online video piracy problem is exacerbated by the high costs and by the ready availability of pre-loaded Kodi boxes that stream content through set-top boxes and through the internet.

Structural Changes to Viewership Patterns

The Sky Sports deal in 1992 marked a major structural change in sports viewership. Users had to lock-in to the Sky Sports ecosystem to be able to follow the national English sport of football. Over the previous 25 years however, there has been another major technological disruptor to how users watch sports – the internet.

Video streaming over the internet has become more prevalent, what with an extensive network of Content Delivery Networks and the ability to setup streaming servers in offshore locations where anti-piracy measures are made futile.

During the 2014 World Cup there were a total of 30million viewing hours of football streamed on ESPN in USA. In the same world cup there were a total of 20million page views of illegal streaming sites globally. While not exactly comparable – the American market forms a small subsection of the global football market, this reveals that illegal viewers of live sports events are numerically significant and represent loss of revenue equivalent to a major sports-following nation.

People have started to view online content through other avenues as well now. FIgures of 18-49 year olds has declined since the age of the internet

The Guardian reported in October 2016 that viewership figures have been down for the Champions League, and posed the question: Are these changes a blip or a trend? In other words is the reason for the lower viewership figures incidental factors relevant to a limited period of time, or instead actual effects of a structural change in viewership patterns. There is no conclusive answer yet, but it is undeniable that internet sources of following the match are changing the way football followers experience the sport.

It is not just the online pirated streams that are competitors to TV viewership – social networks provide an active community discussing match events real time. Major newspapers the guardian and telegraph provide a live blog covering the sports games. While not a direct substitute for the live video, live blogs definitely make the absence of live video much less acute for non-subscribers, diminishing incentives for subscribing.

Vines and GIF highlights are also used in these social networks to share highlights of the game. The ubiquity of the camera, internet and video-clip creating software means that very often vines are online within seconds of a highlight of the match – say a goal or a red card. This is a very disaggregated way of sharing content, and creates another headache for Premier League broadcasters, who have clearly been unwilling to go after end viewers.

Use of Kodi Boxes and Software for Online Video Piracy

In response to the high costs for subscription to Sky and to BT, many homeowners opt to setup Kodi Set-top boxes.

Since the major source of revenue for Sky comes from pubs that subscribe to the the Club and Pubs membership package, a number of these pubs now stream directly from non-British EU broadcasters, through set-top boxes. Set-top boxes preloaded with channels with much lower subscriptions are used to stream live games.  

Kodi itself is a free software application. It is an open-source media player that can integrate with different OS (Windows, Linux and Mac) and different platforms (Smart TVs, Set-top boxes and mobile phones). Because it can be installed on any device – computers, smartphones and on Set-Top boxes, unlicensed add-ons can be bundled with Kodi boxes that could give users free access to paid content. It is this act of bundling illegal add-ons that is illegal, and which the Premier League is trying to actively combat. With the latest ruling, ISPs can block access to entire online servers found to be illegally streaming premier league games. This creates a significant disincentive to pirates looking to stream the matches for profit.

Premier League can now get the servers that are used to broadcast video streams over Kodi Boxes blocked. Previously Premier League could only target and block individual stream sources, which users can shift to other sources. Now by being given the ability to target the computer servers means a major boost in the fight to block online piracy.

in February 2017, authorities conducted raids across North-west England, arresting individuals selling illegal Kodi boxes to bars and pubs.

Amazon recently banned sale of pre-loaded Kodi boxes on their platform in a major step forward towards combating online video piracy.

Litigation Against Pubs televising Premier League Games using EU subscription

The Premier League has conducted an aggressive litigation campaign against pubs streaming games through Kodi Boxes. These litigations have yielded both success and setbacks for the Premier League.

Karen Murphy of Portsmouth succeeded in her lawsuit against the Premier League,where the court ruled that the Premier League’s enforcement of only British subscriptions was anti-trust, and violated EU’s requirements of non-exclusivity. The Karen Murphy case was ruled upon in October 2011. The landlord of the Red and White pub in Portsmouth showed live Premier League games using a subscription (costing £800 per year) for Nova, which held the PL rights for Greece, as against Sky which cost £700 per month. The European Court of Justice ruled that Premier League cannot enforce exclusive access to broadcasters as such a system was contrary to EU law.

Since then the Premier League has developed another mechanism of enforcing the exclusive broadcast networks through a legal technicality – enforcement of copyright law. This is because Premier League’s logo (ordinarily shown throughout the match) and Premier League’s anthem (shown at the start of the match) are copyright material, and that showing this material without the Premier League’s consent is infringement of copyright. These logos, which are visible as a watermark outlay on the screen, and on player jerseys throughout the game (acting as a real dynamic watermark) mean that it is impossible for clubs to show the game in real time without obscuring the logo (and protecting themselves from litigation).

Cannot target users for fear of public backlash and because of EU ruling

Although the Premier League and the broadcasters have aggressively targeted pubs that show illegal streams through non-British (and cheaper) subscriptions, and through Kodi boxes, they have not yet started aggressively acting against end users. The reasons for this are two-fold

1. 1. EU Judgement – A landmark EU judgement in 2014 from the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that viewing copyrighted material without explicitly downloading content is not piracy, and does not cause any breaking of piracy laws. This is because the cached files are temporary, and only transient and incidental to technology use. The relevant section of the judgement rules:

Article 5 of Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society must be interpreted as meaning that the copies on the user’s computer screen and the copies in the internet ‘cache’ of that computer’s hard disk, made by an end-user in the course of viewing a website, satisfy the conditions that those copies must be temporary, that they must be transient or incidental in nature and that they must constitute an integral and essential part of a technological process, as well as the conditions laid down in Article 5(5) of that directive, and that they may therefore be made without the authorisation of the copyright holders.

1. Customer Backlash – Going against end viewers using online video piracy would be disastrous from a public relations perspective. With users already having options of alternate media streams, any action against end users (as opposed to intermediaries such as pub owners or Kodi box sellers) is likely to cause outrage and lead to litigation against the monopoly of television rights. Already pub owners streaming from other EU based broadcasters can legally stream from those broadcasters, undercutting Premier league broadcasters in England only. For a key customer facing organization, invoking the customer’s displeasure is definitely strategic hara-kiri and would do nothing to combat the actual challenge of online video piracy.

Conclusion

Ultimately revenues from subscription are critical for the maintenance of the premier league bubble. With clubs tied down to 4-5 year wage costs, the Premier League needs to maintain the same price evaluation for the next broadcast deal, which will be announced in the 2017-18 financial period, for the period starting 2019. That streaming premier League be profitable for broadcasters is the bottomline that the Premier League needs to ensure, whether by enforcing strict litigation against pirates, or by offering a bigger content package to end-users and making their services more affordable.

At VdoCipher we are committed to helping our users win the battle against piracy. Find more details about VdoCipher’s DRM infrastructure and our integration of Widevine DRM for Hollywood-grade security, which helps us protect our users’ premium content.

Siddhant Jain

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

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Premier League is Battling Online Video Piracy appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Game of Throne is one of the most popular TV series currently. The first four episodes of the series started making their way around the Internet Saturday night after being uploaded to several Torrent sites, a day before the official Sunday première. The four leaks seem to originate from a screener sent to reviewers and translators ahead of the show’s launch. Below link give  a detailed news.

http://mashable.com/2015/04/12/game-of-thrones-leak/

The main thing to notice here is that video seems to be downloaded using an external camera which explains poor quality of leakage. There is a watermark at the bottom which is blurred using video editing tool.

How using VdoCipher for pre-release video sharing could have been helpful ?

1. Create a movie sharing site with login system( user id and password for each of your user ). The number of pre-release viewers would be in range of 100.

2. Now the translators and technical persons all can watch the videos for reviews and suggestions. Use dynamic watermarking feature provided by VdoCipher.

3. VdoCipher Security – The stream is encrypted , so video download is not possible. The viewers mail id , username , ip address , the current time of playback can be flashed on the player. Unlike the leaked movie , VdoCipher has below special features.

• The watermark is user specific
• The watermark is moving continuously. (Flashed every few seconds)
• The watermark can be customized. ( size, color, transparency, time period for flashing.)
• All this ensures that the watermark can not be removed from the video and also it does not cause irritation to the viewer.

4. Demo – Here is a demo link that shows VdoCipher’s watermarking feature. It is flashing the ip address and mail id. Mail id is kept static  It can be set to moving if desired.. ip address is continuously moving. The colour , position, size , periodicity of motion ,transparency everything can be customized with a simple code mentioned in blog.

Dynamic water-marking with VdoCipher demo

For more details on secure video hosting, visit our site – www.vdocipher.com

Siddhant Jain

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

www.vdocipher.com/

The post How GOT video leak could have been prevented with VdoCipher appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.