CDSA

Friend MTS: Don’t Forget the Pirates in the Room

With in-person events limited or canceled altogether, theaters closed, and sporting events playing out in empty stadiums and arenas, it’s safe to say consumer viewing habits have changed just a bit this past year.

And there’s been plenty of adaptation: Live sports has become more virtualized. New theatrical has gone day-and-date with streaming in many cases. Film festivals, Broadway and live concerts have become virtual events.

But for Brad Parobek, SVP of sales, Americas, for content protection specialist Friend MTS, for all the shifting entertainment companies have done to address the new way of things, one thing they can’t lose sight of is that content pirates haven’t gone anywhere. If anything, they’ve increased in number.

“They’re out there and we all know that,” he said, speaking at the recent, virtual Content Protection Summit, during the presentation “Blocking the Pirate in the Room – Subscribers Aren’t the Only Ones Anxiously Awaiting New Releases.” “Sometimes they have better web sites than distributors. They’re out there stealing your money, and anxiously awaiting your new releases, just like your subscribers and distribution arms.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a rise in piracy of first-run content, with nearly all audiences getting their entertainment fix — from live sports, first-run movies and film festivals, to Broadway theatricals and live music concerts — in the safety of their homes.

More than 17 percent of worldwide video streaming users access content illegally, and global online piracy costs the U.S. economy at least $29.2 billion in lost revenue each year, according to data Parobek shared.

The loss of subscriber and affiliate license fees, lower advertising revenue, and the theft of premium VOD content right when it’s released are all a result of increased piracy, he added. But with the right solutions, the damage can be mitigated.

“We can find these unauthorized copies of videos anywhere on the web literally within seconds,” Parobek said. “We’re able to enforce copyrights on behalf of content rights holders and owners in real time. And, to the extent of what the piracy is, with our analytics tools, we’re able to help [content owners] build evidence against those piracy services out there that’s forensic and admissible in court.”

Detect, deter and disable is the anti-piracy mantra Friend MTS lives by, he said, with the company offering highly-scalable solutions covering global monitoring, fingerprinting, advance watermarking (ASiD), and crucial business insights.

To view the full presentation, click here. To view the presentation slide deck, click here.

Presented by Microsoft Azure, the Content Protection Summit was sponsored by SHIFT, Genpact, Akamai, Convergent Risks, Friend MTS, GeoGuard, PacketFabric, Palo Alto Networks, Richey May Technology Solutions, Splunk, Zixi, EIDR, Cyberhaven and Xcapism Learning.

The event was produced by MESA, CDSA, the Hollywood IT Society (HITS) and Women in Technology Hollywood (WiTH), under the direction of the CDSA Board of Directors and content advisors representing Amazon Studios, Adobe, Paramount, BBC Studios, NBCUniversal, Lionsgate, WarnerMedia, Amblin Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, and Lego Group.