CDSA

Eric Wynalek, VP of strategic initiatives for SHIFT, had both good news and bad news to share on piracy during the pandemic at the Oct. 20 Media & Entertainment Day event: stay-at-home orders have undoubtedly resulted in more pirated content. But it’s also resulted in content owners doing more to stop it.

During his presentation, Wynalek reviewed both the issues and solutions content distributors have encountered as content consumption has spiked during COVID-19, and one stat stood out: during the second quarter of the year, there was a 40 percent increase in entertainment, news and sports views.

“You might be thinking, ‘Well, of course, there’s nothing else to do but watch content,’” Wynalek said. “What I found interesting was two things: this number spikes to 64% in North America, amd sports views were … down 42% in North America, so what you’re really seeing is entertainment and news driving massive video consumption.”

Wynalek also shared data showing that during the pandemic, 42 percent of those aged 13-34 have shared a video service password with someone outside the house.

On the piracy front, just through the first half of the year, total global visits to piracy sites hit 68.3 billion, with the U.S. (6.1 billion), Russia (4.2 billion) and China (3.6 billion) being the top three offending countries. “What’s interesting is that 58 percent of this piracy is now done through streaming sites, rather than downloads or torrents,” Wynalek said.

The good news: among content owners, there’s been a 14 percent increase among those investing in content protection services, and in the seven months since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, there’s 66 percent increase in minutes of content watermarked vs. last year. However, there’s also been a 150 percent increase in credential sharing, Wynalek shared.

He said content owners are increasing their investment in content protection services for a number of reasons: damage to their reputation, where failing to protect content can lead to loss in brand trust, ruined campaigns and lower viewership; revenue loss, with global revenue losses from digital piracy hitting more than $97 billion for movies and more than $95 billion for TV; and control over IP, with just the domestic value of stolen intellectual property hitting $250 billion a year.

To view the full SHIFT presentation click here. To download the presentation, click here.

M&E Day was sponsored by IBM Security, Microsoft Azure, SHIFT, Akamai, Cartesian, Chesapeake Systems, ContentArmor, Convergent Risks, Deluxe, Digital Nirvana, edgescan, EIDR, PK, Richey May Technology Solutions, STEGA, Synamedia and Signiant and was produced by MESA, in cooperation with NAB Show New York, and in association with the Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA) and the Hollywood IT Society (HITS).