CDSA

When it comes to pirated content, sports serves as the “gateway to all other pirated content,” whether it’s movies, TV shows or video games, according to Justin Caple, VP of sales and accounts, Americas at Synamedia.

A closer analysis of consumer behavior has revealed the interconnected nature of illegal consumption that extends from popular sports to other sports and premium content. Understanding these trends will help inform the anti-piracy strategy of rights holders, broadcasters and over-the-top (OTT) platform owners.

“It’s technology that got us into this mess and it’s going to be technology that’s going to help us get out of it,” Caple said Dec. 16 at the Content Protection Summit (CPS) event, during the session “A Closer Look at Consumer Behavior and Illegal Streaming.”

The aim of Synamedia, a technology vendor specializing in content security for 25 years, remains to “shut the pirates down – we want to stop it,” he told attendees.

Noting that Synamedia uses machine learning and deep analysis to understand how the pirates operate, he said: “We know their networks. We know who they are. We know how they operate.”

Tackling Sports Piracy

What Synamedia set out to do with a new report, “Tackling sports piracy in an IP world,” was to inform the industry who the consumers of pirated content are and what their motivations are, according to Caple.

“We chose sports, primarily because we know that sports is the gateway to all other pirated content,” he said, explaining: “Whether it be movies [or] TV shows, sports is the gateway. Once a consumer goes after a sports event, they sign up to a pirate network [and] they will continue using that for movies [or whatever it may be, including] downloading games.”

For the report, 6,000 sports fans across 10 countries were polled by Ampere Analysis to try to learn the personas of these consumers, he noted, adding over 25% of the respondents were from the U.S. and Canada.

“Once we know the personas, we know how to go after them” because it helps Synamedia understand why and how many of them turn to piracy, he told attendees.

The study provided some key pieces of important information about the consumers supporting pirated content, he said, such as: “They know it’s illegal but they don’t care. They know there’s consequences. They’re not worried about them. And this goes across ages from 16 to 64. They understand the consequences but they don’t care.”

The research established that 84% of those surveyed were watching sports illegally and 38% of the most engaged consumers of pirated content are paying for a pirate service, he said.

“The biggest thing that came out of this: 84% are worried that we’re going to take down the illegal service that they’re using. So disruption becomes key,” he pointed out.

“All the technology that the pirates are using” to pirate organizations’ content has provided Synamedia with a strategy to fight them and “disrupt the service” – and do it in a way where, potentially, “we can take the paying customers and bring them back to your environment because that’s key,” he explained.

The important question is then: “You want those paying subscribers so what do we need to do to get them back” and motivate them to change their ways and start paying for a legitimate service again, he noted.

The polling showed that important factors to take into consideration included legal impact, potential impact on a team that consumers are fans of, stream disruption and impact on the picture quality of the content, he said.

Strategies to Slash Sports Stealing

Targeted strategies for cutting sports piracy include multi-factor authentication in apps, which he said is “absolutely critical [but] no one’s doing it.”

Also important is that “accessibility needs to be easier” than it is now to access legitimate streaming services, he said, explaining: “If we make it complex. They’re going to go the pirates,” where the service is easy to use. “We have to address that as an industry.”

In conclusion, he told attendees: “We see the value in taking these pirates out. We will go after them. We know how to take them down. But ultimately we are here to support you.”

To download the free report, click here.

To download the presentation, click here.

To view the full presentation, click here.

The Content Protection Summit was open to remote attendees worldwide using MESA’s recently introduced metaverse environment, the Rendez.Vu-powered MESAverse, an interactive 3D-world that allows for hybrid live and virtual events.

The event was produced by MESA, presented by IBM Security and Synamedia, sponsored by Convergent Risks, Richey May Technology Solutions, PacketFabric, archTIS, Code42, INTRUSION, NAGRA, StoneTurn and Vision Media.