Robin Boldon, director product management for anti-piracy at OpSec Security explains why direct-to-consumer platforms at must begin to work with experts and implement anti-piracy tools to identify how their content is being misused
By Jenny Priestley
Published: January 14, 2021
Robin Boldon, director product management for anti-piracy at OpSec Security explains why direct-to-consumer platforms at must begin to work with experts and implement anti-piracy tools to identify how their content is being misused
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Robin Boldon, director product management for anti-piracy at OpSec Security explains why direct-to-consumer platforms at must begin to work with experts and implement anti-piracy tools to identify how their content is being misused
https://www.tvbeurope.com/media-consumption/how-can-d2c-platforms-better-protect-their-exclusive-regional-content title=Share via Email class=share-email>
Over the course of 2020, piracy has seen significant growth, with film piracy rising by 60 per cent in some countries during the Covid-19 pandemic and research from OpSec Security finding that 29 per cent of consumers increased the frequency with which they accessed pirated content during their country's lockdown.
For the broadcast industry, this is a worrying trend that only looks set to worsen, driven by a number of factors, ranging from the ease with which consumers can now access this illegal content, to the fragmentation of the broadcast market. Not only are audiences now required to subscribe to a number of different services should they wish to access the wide range of content being made available but they are also regularly having to wait to access it due to new streaming platforms increasingly staggering their launches. As a result, consumers in some territories are having to wait months or even years to watch exclusive content sparking consumer frustrations.
These frustrations at having to subscribe to multiple services and waiting for access to the latest releases, alongside the ease of obtaining the overabundance of illegal content shared online, are acting as driving forces behind the high volumes of piracy being experienced by direct-to-consumer platforms.
Consequently, broadcasters and direct-to-consumer platforms must do more to ensure they are able to protect their content from pirates, not least because of the financial damage piracy causes, as annual global revenue losses from digital piracy in the movie industry are thought to be between $40 and $97.1 billion. Further to this, as pirated content is often in downgraded quality, content providers could face reputational damage due to being associated with a poor consumer experience. With such high stakes and millions of people spending more time at home this winter, it's vital broadcasters and content providers take action to protect their content from being accessed illegally around the world.
Embracing multi-platform piracy programmes One of the most effective ways for streaming platforms to protect their content is to implement a multi-platform piracy programme covering video-on-demand streaming sites, proactive search delisting and cleaning the first two pages of popular search engines. This strategy should also cover open source apps such as social media sites and Telegram which can be a hotbed of pirated content, as shown by recent research from OpSec Security. The research uncovered that over a fifth of content from a multi-national SVoD provider was showing up on social media sites and Telegram, either in the form of links to watch or illegal copies. In addition to monitoring here, broadcasters should also frequently review cyberlocker sites, such as DropBox, and peer-to-peer networks, like BitTorrent, to further reduce exposure to the spread of infringing content.
For broadcasters and streaming providers, covering all bases in this way and ensuring their regional piracy coverage remains current, will enable them to better protect their content and gain a more in-depth understanding of where and how it is being shared. Using antipiracy tools and working with the experts will help content owners to identify where their content is being shared and misused and enable them to immediately enforce on infringements and therefore stem the sharing of their content illegally. As some technologies are also able to pinpoint the source of the leaked content, it may also be possible for broadcasters and streaming providers to take legal action against pirates.
Protecting content based on geography Streaming platforms may also wish to consider geo-blocking a technique favoured by Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and BBC iPlayer, for example, to restrict the availability of specific internet content to a geographical location. Historically, geo-blocking has been a popular anti-piracy method, allowing media players to prevent regional spill over by ensuring DVDs had restricted international distribution and could only be played in devices in the intended region. Such strategies continue to be applicable in the digital age despite the lack of physical infrastructure. For instance, nowadays, a user accessing Netflix from the US will have a different range of content available to them compared to one logging in from a European country. Although some users may be able to circumnavigate geo-blocking technologies through the use of VPNs, this method is, by and large, an effective way to limit the availability of certain content, which can be a licensing or copyright issue. To further strengthen their anti-piracy efforts, content owners should also work with trade associations such as MPA and ACE to take a united approach to tackling piracy.
Safeguarding exclusive content Currently, illegal downloading of copyrighted materials takes up almost a quarter (24 per cent) of gl
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
21/01/2026
Wednesday 21 January 2026
Backing Britain on the global stage: Sky becomes an o...
21/01/2026
Fox Corporation Executives to Discuss Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Financial Resul...
21/01/2026
Baselight v7 brings colourists and post-houses smarter mattes, faster workflows and deeper control
FilmLight, known for its detailed colour toolset and longsta...
21/01/2026
RT News is pleased to announce the appointment of Jackie Fox as its new Washington Correspondent. Jackie is a multimedia journalist with RT News and has repor...
19/01/2026
Monday 19 January 2026
Sky News reinvents News at Ten for the modern audience with The Wrap
Sky News today announces The Wrap, a bold evolution of its 10pm ou...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones is striking a new chord in piano miking with the debut of its DPK2015 Piano Stereo Kit, an out-of-the-box, plug-and-play miking solution that ta...
19/01/2026
DPA Microphones will present its 4099 CORE Instrument Microphone and redesigned...
19/01/2026
Trianel relies on Arvato Systems for future-proof data center operations
Moving to the cloud: Arvato Systems implements extensive IT migration project
Migrat...
19/01/2026
Celebrating 21 Years of the RT Choice Music Prize
RT Choice Music Prize
In association with IMRO and IRMA
Irish Album of the Year 2025 - Shortlist Announce...
18/01/2026
January 18 2026, 21:30 (PST) Dolby Cinema Arrives in Bengaluru: Dolby Laborator...
16/01/2026
The start of a new year brings fresh possibilities. Whether you're diving in with big goals or simply setting new intentions, audiobooks can bring inspirati...
16/01/2026
In 2025 we launched the Spotify Partner Program to give creators more ways to tu...
15/01/2026
The SGL Carbon site in Bonn has a long tradition of training. For many years, young talent has been successfully trained here, regularly achieving excellent exa...
15/01/2026
The JEC Composites Innovation Awards annually honor the most innovative and ambi...
15/01/2026
X-energy Reactor Company, LLC ( X-energy ) and SGL Carbon LLC ( SGL ) have signed a 10-year framework agreement to provide graphite for the deployment of X-ener...
15/01/2026
RT is tonight announcing that Mari Hurley has decided to leave her role as RT 's Chief Financial Officer to take up a new position outside RT . Mari will r...
15/01/2026
15 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Reaches 3.0 million Customers with Starlink Dir...
15/01/2026
Views to free streaming service U grew by 15%, average monthly active users by 23% and registrations by 18%
UKTV's channels achieved record viewing share, ...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
Sky Sports to show Final Stage of inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup
Sky and FIFA have agreed an exclusive new partnership whi...
15/01/2026
Thursday 15 January 2026
The official trailer for the second season of Seth Mac...
15/01/2026
Wuppertal January 15, 2026
Riedel RefCam Takes Center Court in German Basketba...
15/01/2026
Arvato Systems Named Launch Partner for AWS European Sovereign Cloud
As a launch partner for the AWS European Sovereign Cloud, Arvato Systems enables customer...
14/01/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 13th January, 2026 ITV, one of the UKs leading broadcasters, has selected Yospace, the global leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), to ...
14/01/2026
Steiger Media's adoption of Calrec's compact Argo M console not only makes its innovative new hybrid truck faster, more efficient, and agile, but also e...
14/01/2026
Press Release: The Boston Globe Names Cartesian a Top Place to Work in 2025
January 14, 2026
News
Cartesian - January 14, 2026 - EINPresswire.com - Sp...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Marcus Theatres Announce Five-Year Extension for Cinema ACE and Ent...
14/01/2026
Comscore and Santikos Entertainment Announce Five-Year Circuit Wide Commitment t...
14/01/2026
Wednesday 14 January 2026
Sky News announces Cathy Newman to lead flagship new political programme
Sky News today announces that award-winning journalist and ...
14/01/2026
The first stamp of An Post's 2026 Stamp Programme, marking 100 Years of Broadcasting, was unveiled at the GPO by Patrick O'Donovan TD, Minister for Cult...
14/01/2026
It's official! Beverley Callard has landed in Carrigstown. The beloved actor, known for her unforgettable roles and iconic screen presence, is joining the c...
13/01/2026
Independent media in Brazil and Colombia is facing an urgent crisis of traditional business models alongside a deteriorating security environment, according to ...
13/01/2026
Luxembourg, December 17, 2025 - SES S.A. ( SES or the Company ), a leading spa...
13/01/2026
Written and executive produced by Steve Lightfoot and Angela LaManna, produced b...
13/01/2026
New updates to Hitmaker Expansion from Celemony and Softube Edit pitch-perfect vocals with Melodyne Essential and get radio-ready guitar tones from Softube...
13/01/2026
Live broadcasts from RT 2FM Breakfast with Carl, Roz & Aisling, RT Radio 1 Tod...
12/01/2026
Spotify's new co-CEOs, Alex Norstr m and Gustav S derstr m, start off the new year with a message of renewed leadership, creative responsibility, and what&#...
12/01/2026
At Spotify, we listen to a lot of music. And every year, our global editors and artist partnerships teams come together to spotlight the emerging voices we beli...
12/01/2026
Spotify's global editors and Songwriter & Publisher Partnerships team spend their days immersed in new music, tracking the writers behind the songs breaking...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan and increases its support for the J...
12/01/2026
X-Rite and Rhopoint Launch Rhopoint PANTORA Aesthetix to Streamline Creation of...
12/01/2026
12 Jan 2026
VEON's Kyivstar Launches 5G Pilot in Lviv Lviv, January 12, 2026 - VEON, a global digital operator (Nasdaq: VEON), today announces that Kyivsta...
12/01/2026
Monday 12 January 2026
The ultimate betrayal: Harry and Jamie Redknapp, Paul Me...
12/01/2026
Rohde & Schwarz opens larger office in Japan to increase its support for the Jap...
12/01/2026
Welcome to the AVECO team: introducing new members of management
At AVECO, we are continuing to implement our #newAVECO strategy, which aims to build an even s...
12/01/2026
For the first time in the nine-year history of Dancing with the Stars, the first...
Robin Boldon, director product management for anti-piracy at OpSec Security explains why direct-to-consumer platforms at must begin to work with experts and implement anti-piracy tools to identify how their content is being misused
