The cost of content piracy to OTT broadcasters is staggering Skip to content

The cost of content piracy to OTT broadcasters is staggering

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It’s been difficult to pin down the cost of content piracy to OTT broadcasters, however, the good people at Parks Associates, a market intelligence firm, have done just that and the number is staggering. They estimate the cost of video piracy in 2019 for Pay-TV and OTT broadcasters will be $9.1 billion dollars in lost revenue. 

And if that’s not a big enough number for you, they also predict that figure will increase by 38% in 2024 to $12.5 billion. That’s a very significant growth rate and one that should be ringing the alarm bells for both OTT broadcasters, content creators and rightsholders. 

With every major broadcaster expected to launch a new streaming service in the next two years, it’s no surprise that piracy is on the rise. Illegally accessing content has never been easier with 37% of people in the UK admitting to having done so.

Plus with live streaming adding another dimension to piracy, live sporting events are now being specifically targeted as the sports industry has yet to determine a set of security standards or to lobby governments to have the laws changed with serious legislation put into place.

As piracy and technology evolve and with so many streaming services out there, the nature of combating piracy and in particular content piracy needs to change.

So how can OTTs prevent piracy?

Now that we can attach a figure to the loss in revenue from video piracy, what can be done to stop a user from illegally accessing content? Content piracy is a huge and multi-faceted problem to tackle, however one aspect of it can be dealt with very effectively, and that’s VPN-based geolocation fraud or geo-piracy.

Geolocation fraud or geo-piracy is a type of piracy is where a user deploys a VPN or DNS proxy in order to access content that they shouldn’t have access to because of territory licensing restrictions. In many cases, users can also utilize a VPN or DNS Proxy in order to appear to be located in an area where the content is offered at a lower cost than in their home market. In both cases, geo-piracy and geolocation fraud impact the revenues of legitimate OTT broadcasters and the value of content for rightsholders.

As the market leader in geolocation technology, GeoGuard is an award-winning and Hollywood Studio approved solution for protecting rightsholders and OTT broadcasters from geo-piracy and geolocation fraud. With the increasing use of geo-piracy tools such VPNs and DNS proxies worldwide, it is essential that rightsholders and OTT broadcasters protect their content, not only to preserve the value of the content but to remain a viable business now and into the future.

The cost of content piracy is staggering and it’s often difficult for OTTs and rightsholders to know where to start in order to combat it. The best strategy is always to employ the tools that have been proven to tackle each aspect of the problem, essentially the “divide and conquer” approach. Geolocation fraud and geo-piracy via VPNs is one that can be easily solved using GeoComply.

Pirates are more determined than ever! Learn how to outsmart them in our white paper: The Next Generation of Content Protection – Moving Beyond IP for Location Verification.

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