Future of Video addresses role of content providers in combating the growing challenge of piracy 

Parks Associates’ latest consumer data on video habits shows that almost one-fourth of US internet households agree that pirating content is acceptable, up from 14% in 2019. The international research firm will host “Digital Piracy and Distribution” virtually on Thursday, September 22, 11:00 AM CT US, as part of the fifth annual Future of Video: OTT, Pay TV, and Digital Media.

Future of Video, sponsored by Adeia, FPT Software, Quickplay, SymphonyAI Media, Comcast Technology Solutions, Metrological, and Friend MTS, brings together industry leaders for visionary presentations, interactive panel discussions, and analyst insights.

“Almost half of pirates believe stealing content is acceptable because there are no consequences to the behavior,” said Jennifer Kent, VP, Research, Parks Associates. “The session provides insights on piracy behavior and triggers and strategies to balance piracy prevention with subscriber retention and churn motivators. We are excited to bring the industry together to share insights on this important topic.”

At Future of Video, Parks Associates’ analyst team will present new consumer trends on subscriber engagement followed by a fireside chat with Marty Roberts, SVP of Product Strategy and Marketing, Brightcove. Two interactive panel discussions, “Tech to Protect” and “Provider Concerns: Losing Millions or Gaining Eyeballs?,” will bring together industry executives to discuss new technology and services that are identifying piracy threats and provider concerns about piracy and new solutions in the market.

"Piracy is an evolving challenge facing the market today and I'm excited to join this event for a discussion that will provide streaming creators and innovators the insight and tools needed to face this challenge," Marty Roberts said. 

Panelists:

• Tim Cutting, GM, Reelgood
• Serhad Doken, CTO, Adeia
• Steve Epstein, Fellow Solution Engineer, Synamedia
• Matthew Fite, CTO, Verimatrix
• Olga Kornienko, Co-Founder and COO, EZDRM
• Sebastian Kramer, SVP, Product Management, NAGRA
• Sourik Samaddar, Manager, Consumer Solutions, Akamai Technologies
• Peter Scott, VP, Emerging Media and Innovation, Warner Media
• Chris White, Operations Director, Friend MTS
• Lau Zuydervelt, Product Director for Cybersecurity and Antipiracy, Irdeto

"We've found that consumers pirate NOT because they want to but because they're often forced to by an increasingly complex and fragmented streaming landscape that was built for companies, not users," said Tim Cutting, GM, Reelgood.

“Some consumers do not even realize that they are viewing pirated content,” said Serhad Doken, CTO, Adeia. “There is room for improvement from the industry in several perspectives: education, content security, and product design.”

“Piracy’s impact has gone from bad to worse, and it’s hitting content owners and service providers where it hurts: in their pockets. The good news is there is technology and intelligence available to keep content secure and stop them in their tracks,” said Steve Epstein, Fellow Solutions Engineer, Synamedia. “I’m looking forward to talking through the myriad of ways pirates can infiltrate and, more importantly, how we can help shut them down at Future of Video.”

“We’re talking to the largest streamers and studios in the world, and they are all expressing a similar feeling – piracy is a today problem to solve,” said Matthew Fite, CTO, Verimatrix. “I think that as an industry we have the opportunity and the responsibility right now to work together to find creative solutions to shut down piracy.”

“With an increasingly fragmented content landscape as content owners range direct-to-consumer services, piracy is soaring. Ultimately, consumers are looking for content, so we all need to focus on the best, aggregated approaches to allow this to happen,” said Sebastian Kramer, SVP Product Management, NAGRA. “However, for pirate-hosted streaming services, the industry has other tactics to disrupt and block access. Fighting piracy and illegal content sharing using the NAGRA Active Streaming Protection framework,  which tackles areas such as app protection, credential hijacking, and CDN content theft, is just one example of how our customers are delivering a robust defense against streaming piracy.”

"EZDRM is pleased to participate in the Future of Video discussions as we believe strongly in the commercial foundations of the streaming media business," said Olga Kornienko, Co-founder and COO, EZDRM. "Internet distribution does not eliminate the fundamental need to monetize the production and distribution of great content - something we help to enable every day."

“We’re extremely pleased to be joining this illustrious panel and to highlight how broadcasters, platform operators, and rights holders can address the threats posed to them by video piracy,” said Chris White, Operations Director, Friend MTS.

About Future of Video: OTT, Pay TV, and Digital Media

Future of Video brings together senior leaders to share insights on new trends in the video and connected entertainment industries, with insights on consumer adoption, churn, and spending. The event provides insight into successful OTT strategy deployments, challenges for pay-TV providers, the role of connected CE in the growth of video viewing, new content formats, and the overall impact to the video market. www.futureofvideo.us