The world has gone digital since Covid-19 pandemic. Work, education and entertainment is through the internet. People have turned to digital TV and video on demand (VOD) platforms for entertainment. VOD generated a revenue of 60,984 million USD in 2020 globally and is projected to generate 95,976 million USD by 2025. Owing to remote work, video conferencing software have generated a revenue of 5.77 billion USD in 2020, 6.28 billion USD in 2021 and expected to reach 12.99 billion USD in 2028.
The increasing trend in video consumption and video conferencing usage demonstrates the importance of securing the information on such platforms from fraud and duplication. Experts have forecasted loss due to piracy in the entertainment industry to amount up to 52 billion USD in 2022. In this article, we will discuss how you can secure video streaming content from piracy.
What leads to video piracy?
Two major ways that lead to video piracy are by downloading the video and sharing login credentials. Hacking passwords, creating fake accounts using multiple credit cards to access video content in the trial period, bypassing controls to access a single account using multiple devices are a few ways that lead to video piracy.
Factors that trigger video piracy
Online platforms that make free video content available for download induce video piracy. Video content on such platforms is derived from unauthentic sources, hence discouraging the audience from purchasing the video rightfully by giving it away for free.
Credentials sharing
Sharing login credentials of a paid video streaming platform willingly to known people is also a form of video piracy. Every individual who wants to access paid content online should pay for it. Stealing passwords of premium account members and using it or selling it away at a lesser rate is piracy.
Content downloading
Browser extensions and tools that facilitate downloading video content on the internet is a form of video piracy since it is unpaid. This is possible even on a secure online video platform. Secure video streaming for business by using encryption to protect your videos.
Simulcasting
Capturing live videos or telecasted video content on camera and distributing it is termed as simulcasting. Video playback software and screen share option are also used in this method.
Trial fraud
Most of the online video streaming platforms offer free trials to new customers for attracting user base. This is used illegally by using different login credentials to sign up for new accounts on the best video streaming platform and exploiting the trial policy.
Top ways to secure video streaming content from piracy
Online video streaming solutions should directly reach out to their target market by making the video content on their platform available to access using Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD), Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD), and Ad-based video on demand (AVOD). Even if their target consumers will have to pay a premium price to access this content, they would do so for the premium experience that the platform offers.
Here are some more ways you can adopt to stop video piracy:
Do not share login credentials of video streaming platforms
When users share their login credentials with others, premium content that should be accessed only from one account ends up being accessed by multiple accounts. This leads to loss of revenue for business owners and misuse of account information by the people who have access to the login credentials.
Using video encryption
Video streaming platform providers offer video encryption features that you can use while hosting videos on your video streaming platform. By encrypting your videos, you restrict access to videos thereby eliminating video piracy.
AES 128 Encryption and HLS Encryption with AES-128 are two popular encrypted video streaming protocols that are in use across the globe. Hackers use open key exchange of the encryption technology to hack into the platform and steal the content. For effective utilization of the encryption keys, it is essential to use DRM encryption technology.
Digital Rights Management (DRM)
DRM eliminates the possibility of finding the encryption key as it works with HLS, RTMP and DASH to secure the video content on the platform. This makes sure that the hackers are unable to find the encryption key and break into the video streaming platform.
Use secure hosting services
In case the video streaming solution your business uses does not offer DRM, you can opt for a secure hosting provider who provides DRM. This way, your hosting provider will take care of the technicalities involved in DRM and stream your video content seamlessly to your users’ devices.
Watermarking videos
Embedding digital information in a video signal is termed as watermarking in video streaming. The purpose of watermarking is to identify the source of illegal streaming if it takes place on any of your videos.
Domain restrictions
Videos hosted on your video streaming platform can be played only on your platform by all your users if you use domain restriction feature. This way, hackers will not be able to copy the embedded code of your videos and download it.
Restricting video playback
Using Android OS or video playback software to record the videos that are being played is one of the most effective methods to stop video piracy. This is because recording videos when they are being played and then distributing this content is the most common type of video piracy.
Conclusion
Security is everyone’s responsibility. When a business is operating online, it is essential that the business takes all measures to protect its data on the internet. Video piracy is not only detrimental to the growth of your business, but also is illegal and has to be stopped. Utilize the measures offered in this article to secure your video streaming business and make the internet a safe space.