Broadcast Beat Magazine 2018 NAB Show Edition | Page 58
All of this can quickly be under-
mined by online pirates, illegal-
ly redistributing programs and
live streams. So, content own-
ers must take steps to protect
their programming – some-
thing that can now be easily
done with forensic watermark-
ing.
They are now potentially missing out on millions
in fees or advertising revenue. The most popular
show in HBO history – Game of Thrones (GoT) –
acts as the perfect example of where pirates can
take advantage.
The show’s season seven premiere was pirated
more than 90 million times - six times the number
of the 16 million views via legal channels. That’s a
lot of subscription fees that HBO missed out on
– something that pirates are only able to achieve
because of the internet.
This on-demand piracy is a result of the shifted
audience expectation. Today consumers only
tend to watch specific TV live. A few years back, if
you missed a program, there was no catching up.
But now it’s so easy to watch whatever we want,
when and wherever we please and if on-demand
content isn’t available easily and cheaply, con-
sumers are quick to find a version they can watch
illegally online or one they can find to download
and watch at their leisure.
Illegal streaming of live events however, is the area
which for some reason, seems to come with more
malice - perhaps because the stakes are higher.
The cost of rights for live sports quickly dwarf
those of production. And this is only increasing as
new kinds of online-only stakeholders are putting
up the cash for a piece of the action. Before the
2017-2018 NFL season, Amazon paid 50 million
USD for the online distribution rights for Thursday
Night Football, a property which features just 11
games of a season that’s made up of 256 games.
58 • Broadcast Beat Magazine • www.broadcastbeat.com
More video content than ever
is being delivered using a CDN
but the best way to protect
against pirates is by using one
built specifically for TV. Within
a dedicated TV CDN, content
distributors are then able to deploy a forensic
watermarking solution which lets them track con-
tent wherever it’s delivered. A pixel-based code is
integrated into the program’s image and is unique
to every single viewer. This means that as soon
as a pirated stream or piece of content appears
online, the owner can track exactly who accessed
and illegally redistributed the program.
There are other options available to watermark
content – like delivering content made up of two
different versions of each three-second section
of a program. While this will tell you where a pro-
gram was leaked, it’s easily duped because you
have to wait for the entire program to completely
download or finish streaming before deciphering
the code.
On the other hand, a bit-stream based solution
means you can identify the culprit within around
15 seconds of the content appearing on an unso-
licited site or platform.
Forensic watermarking like this plays an impor-
tant role in the fight against digital pirates which
is an increasingly important battle given the con-
tinued rise in the price of rights and program pro-
duction. A watermarking solution of this kind lets
users track down anyone who illegally streams or
copies their valuable content, putting the power
back in the hands of the broadcasters and con-
tent owners.