Piracy: How broadcasters are confronting the threat

When focusing on video security, it is important to define the two main kinds of risk – one is systematic, ‘for profit’ piracy’; the other the more casual, between-consumer sharing of content.

But both areas constitute significant threats to broadcaster revenue and are becoming ever more pressing in an era when content production and licensing costs are escalating rapidly.

Rinat Burdo, product manager of video security at Synamedia, neatly summarises these concerns. “Alongside the continued growth in for-profit piracy, casual account sharing is also increasing rapidly. Both types of piracy are burning a big hole in broadcasters’ budgets at a time they can ill-afford to lose revenue. Parks Associates predicts that in 2021 $9.9 billion of pay TV revenues and $1.2 billion of OTT revenues will be lost to credentials sharing alone.”

All this translates to acute pressures for broadcasters worldwide. “We’re in an intensely competitive global market and customers are facing…