As pirated content becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from its original sources, it is essential for businesses to utilise piracy prevention technologies. In its latest market study – Pay TV and OTT Piracy Prevention Services – technology market intelligence firm ABI Research uncovers the extent of the direct impact that piracy has on content owners and analyses privacy prevention technologies and practices to help combat content theft and consumer fraud.

The report focuses on analysing piracy impact on video content, specifically within two high-stakes sectors: live sports and television series and films. Specifically, the report finds that sports content is currently, and will continue to be, the greatest focus in privacy prevention as a result of the inherently high value of sports licensing rights and the time-sensitive nature of the content. The allocation of sports revenue currently accounts for approximately 67 per cent of the privacy prevention market, with ABI Research anticipating its share to rise to 84 per cent by 2020.

“Due to the rise in accessibility of ultra HD and 4K, pirated content is generally of higher quality than years prior,” says Shelli Bernard, Research Analyst at ABI Research. “Because consumers may no longer be able to readily differentiate the legality of their downloaded content, content owners need to remain on guard, relying on piracy prevention technologies to continuously monitor for, and gather evidence of, uploaded pirated content.”

ABI Research analyses a number of key piracy prevention services, including Civolution, Friend MTS, Irdeto, Kudelski Security and Viaccess-Orca. As many companies are aware that terminating piracy all together will be a difficult feat, the report points to three key practices that businesses and content owners should look to adopt into their current workflows:

Make Content Accessible: Research the content’s targeted audiences and their geographic locations. Ensure that content is available for streaming or download in all applicable regions to make content most accessible to those who care.
Monitor, Monitor, Monitor: Rely on a piracy prevention service to continuously monitor known piracy sites and gather evidence of pirated content. It is important to catch the pirated content as quickly as possible, as the Internet is a haven for pirates looking to quickly circulate illegal content through an array of online channels.
Take Legal Action: Many developed countries are enforcing appropriate legislation to fight piracy, as they recognise how deep and substantial a problem this is becoming. As such, it is imperative for content owners to take immediate legal action in the event of piracy.
“A lot of companies are viewing piracy as a competitor,” concludes Bernard. “Not only are these companies competing against legitimate streaming services, such as Amazon Prime and Netflix, but now also against illegal sites that attempt to generate an abundance of pirated content. The more prevention practices that companies put into place to hinder piracy, the better.”

Categories: Articles, CA/DRM, Content, Markets, Piracy, Research