As the world was limbering up for the World Cup, my colleague Pascal Metral, a proud Swiss supporter and NAGRA's VP of Anti-Piracy Services, was heading to the Global Media Congress in Dubai. As a guest of Abu Dhabi Media, he was there to share some thoughts about anti-piracy in the MENA region, its causes, and likely implications.
Piracy is popular, prevalent, and unfortunately, highly profitable. To break that down, Statistica in Q3,2021 estimated that in the U.S. alone, there had been over 5 billion visits to piracy sites offering film content. That's just film content and doesn't include gaming, music or any other content. To compound the situation, in the U.S., 9 million households subscribed to a pirate IPTV service in the same period. It's therefore not surprising that annual pirate subscription revenues for IPTV in the U.S. topped $1b. Given this as a backdrop, there's perhaps little wonder that NAGRA customers in the MENA region are starting to get concerned about the impact of piracy on their businesses.
But, why now?
Piracy in the MENA region is growing, fast. Regional streaming services including ADTV, StarzPlay and SwitchTV need content, and this has driven demand for original Arabic content which in turn has increased the amount of content produced in the region. The appetite for local content is matched by challenges seen elsewhere too. These are a fragmented content offering - and in particular sports which are distributed by major players such as Abu Dhabi Media, Etisalat and beIN Sports - overwhelming customer choice and an increased demand for safeguards. The sum of all these parts makes for a larger attack area for pirates who in turn create new consumer offers where full catalogues of content can be accessed in one place for an unbelievably low price.
As a result of these prevailing market conditions, key regional players such as Abu Dhabi Media put a lot of time, energy and focus into the fight against piracy. As a guest on Abu Dhabi Media's stand at the Global Media Congress, Pascal Metral sought to explain how the local market was reacting to these new trends and how key partners such as NAGRA were tackling the problem.
NAGRA has worked with major rights owners across the MENA region for several years to limit the impact of piracy. With the World Cup being held in Doha, the team were also busy helping to shut down a number of anti-piracy operations ahead of the first ball being kicked. Effective anti-piracy strategies typically involve a combination of pro-active and re-active approaches.
Pro-Active Approaches to Piracy
For customers who have already launched streaming propositions, and particularly those with premium sport content, the challenges get magnified as richer pickings are spotted by pirates. Themes such as CDN content theft, credential sharing and app protection all require consideration as does protecting content from the outset with forensic watermarking (so the source of leaks can be detected later).
The NAGRA Active Streaming Protection framework is designed to address threats posed by streaming piracy. Featuring several different options and technologies, it aims, through a central security monitoring and analytics dashboard, to provide a clear, end-to-end view of the challenges facing the network. For today's streaming providers, multi-DRM isn't enough, and the distributed nature of OTT delivery means there are several aspects that need to be holistically considered to gain a true picture of the streaming piracy threat. The NAGRA approach seeks to secure video content and services in multiple dimensions, manage risks with a complete and flexible solution and, perhaps most important of all, simplify the integration so solutions can start working as quickly as possible.
Re-Active Approaches to Piracy
In the event of a leak being detected or piracy evidenced, deploying relevant countermeasures as quickly as possible is key. In live sports, time is of the essence and NAGRA solutions are optimized so shutdowns can be implemented in minutes to disrupt pirate operations and demonstrate to consumers that watching content illegally can mean you pay your money and then lose access without recourse.
For wider anti-piracy operations, a more strategic focus is required. This involves gathering evidence of content piracy, identifying the main players and then launching investigations that result in either criminal or civil enforcement proceedings.
NAGRA Anti-Piracy solutions support in-house anti-piracy teams and dynamically create a comprehensive overview of active piracy. Firstly, the NAGRA Threat Intelligence service shows which pirate services are actively distributing an operator's content. Next, using the Ecosystem Explorer investigators enter the name of the pirate service and then plot other key datapoints which ultimately reveal who is behind the piracy ring. The final step is then to open an investigation that collects evidence to submit during legal proceedings. For organizations without anti-piracy teams, NAGRA can provide a full intelligence and investigation service and has also provided evidence to industry alliances such as Alianza in Brazil for major takedowns such as Operation 404.
To learn more about our anti-piracy solutions, see a demo or just continue the conversation, get in touch with our MENA Sales Director, Chrys Poulain and hear how NAGRA can help your organization tackle content piracy.
Europe Stories
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
25/08/2026
Auction Part 3 running until 9 September 2026
Soundgas have announced that the latest stage of their John Paul Jones Gear Auction is now live, and that bids...
25/08/2026
Over 60 award-winning artists, songwriters, producers, engineers
The MONO Music Conference (formerly Music Expo SF), San Francisco's premier event for m...
25/08/2026
All three versions receive firmware upgrade
Groove Synthesis have just launched a free firmware update that kits the 3rd Wave out with two major new feature...
25/08/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
25/08/2026
Siena Kelly, Connor Swindells and Sophie Wilde join Boyle in the eight-part series from Working Title Television and Story Films, directed by Emmy and BAFTA nom...
25/08/2026
The critically acclaimed thriller will return to Sky in NovemberTuesday 25 Augus...
25/08/2026
Wuppertal August 25, 2026
Scottish Rugby Expands Managed Coach Communications Partnership With RiedelRiedel Communications today announced the continued expan...
25/08/2026
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today debuted M6 in the new Mac mini and M5 Ultra in...
25/08/2026
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced the new Mac mini with the all-new M6...
25/08/2026
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced the new Mac Studio, featuring M5 Max...
25/08/2026
The new series begins Tuesday 1 September at 7pm on RT One and RT Player
The search for Ireland's hidden housing gems is back as Cheap Irish Homes return...
24/08/2026
Human-played drum fills on demand
Sample library developers Yurt Rock have announced the launch of a new plug-in that's dedicated to creating drum fill...
24/08/2026
Debut plug-in in new Professional Series
Black Rooster Audio's latest plug-in delivers an all-in-one vocal-processing tool, and is the debut release in ...
24/08/2026
Rohde & Schwarz addresses operational efficiency and infrastructure resilience a...
24/08/2026
The Handel Scandal and Dangerous Debussy will both air on Sky Arts this AutumnMo...
24/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, w...
24/08/2026
Arvato Systems Becomes a Service Partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss
Zurich - Arvato Systems Switzerland has been a service partner of HANDELSVERBAND.swiss since ...
24/08/2026
We Only Want the Earth: The Life & Ideas of James Connolly airs
Wednesday 26 August on RT One and RT Player at 9.35pm
RT is to air the compelling documenta...
23/08/2026
Offers up to 10 bands of compression
Parish Audio's latest release allows users to place individual compressors anywhere in the frequency range, but tak...
21/08/2026
Hardware-style timing shifts for software instruments
Following on from the release of Omniclock, Rapid Flow have launched a new sequencer plug-in that can ...
21/08/2026
Highly anticipated synthesizer ships in October 2026
Iceland-based Love Synthesizers have announced that their highly anticipated synthesizer is now availab...
21/08/2026
Masterpiece PBS The Forsytes has expanded its cast as its begins production in ...
21/08/2026
The BBC has unveiled first-look pictures from The Witch Farm, a new ghost story and mystery set in the Welsh countryside, coming soon to BBC iPlayer and BBC One...
21/08/2026
The BBC and BritBox have revealed the first look of Edward Bluemel as Hercule Poirot in the forthcoming six-part series Hercule from Mammoth Screen and Agatha C...
21/08/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
21/08/2026
** MEDIA ALERT **
VIZ Media Takes Over Anime NYC with BLEACH, BLACK TORCH, M...
21/08/2026
Tell us a little bit about your job I'm a Marketing Manager and work across a mix of clients and projects. No two days are ever quite the same, which defini...
21/08/2026
Beat The Lotto dives into the plot behind the 1980s National Lottery scandal
24 August 2026 at 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player
Beat The Lotto is the story o...
21/08/2026
The countdown to the most wonderful night of the year has officially begun!
Host Patrick Kielty is gearing up for another unforgettable Late Late Toy Show nig...
21/08/2026
Meet puppet duo Bellie and Whizz, who are about to explore all the big feelings ...
20/08/2026
Set up your own private remote collaboration infrastructure
SoundBridge have recently put together a tutorial video that provides users with a step-by-step ...
20/08/2026
New V-Control Pro features restore basic functionality
Neyrinck's V-Control software has long been keeping older Avid control surfaces compatible with n...
20/08/2026
TV, BritBox and Mammoth Screen have announced that filming is now underway on th...
20/08/2026
Thursday 20 August 2026
Nina Sosanya, Rizzle Kicks, Roman Kemp and Paul Whiteho...
20/08/2026
Wuppertal August 20, 2026
Transformation Church Elevates Production Communicat...
20/08/2026
The music between the notes Coming together In the middle of 2026, as conversations around artificial intelligence continue to raise questions about how musi...
20/08/2026
Arvato Systems Brings Together Digital Transformation Leaders in the Manufacturi...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head back into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
Company launch with stereo-imaging tool
Panoramic is the debut release from Panorama Labs, a new company formed by mastering engineer Nicholas Di Lorenzo. C...
18/08/2026
Control software now available for older interfaces
Focusrite have just announced the launch of an update that extends Control 2 software support for their ...
As the world was limbering up for the World Cup, my colleague Pascal Metral, a proud Swiss supporter and NAGRA's VP of Anti-Piracy Services, was heading to the Global Media Congress in Dubai. As a guest of Abu Dhabi Media, he was there to share some thoughts about anti-piracy in the MENA region, its causes, and likely implications.
