Editorial
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ISSN 1477-8092
Content security is, frankly, not the business it once was. In the heyday of pay-TV, keeping expensive content that was exclusive to the main players away from pirates – often by way of smart cards in STBs – was a big and lucrative business. A few global players were titans, protecting the famous pay brands, and there was a long tail of smaller providers doing the job for mid-level and local broadcasters.
Streaming has put an end to all that, as have more straightened economic times. Expensive content protection is, it appears, a game for the good times. Winning subscribers and keeping them as cheaply as possible is the new normal. Streaming services are more keenly priced than pay-TV was, contracts are less onerous, so piracy incentives are less than they were. When prices are too much for a market, streamers will launch ad layers before they invest heavily in protecting higher priced tiers.
By far the biggest capture of unpaying subs in recent years has been when streamers have restricted the credentials sharing they themselves had promoted. The gambit has broadly worked; viewers want the content enough to pay the price for it and, so far, few seem to have been overpriced into piracy.
Streamers now believe their profitability rests more on getting the balance of content investment versus audience pricing and volume right, than on content protection. Failing in this balance – as several are- is what will see more consolidation of services. It won’ t be because of content theft at the margins. Rightly or wrongly, they don’ t believe that billions are being left on the table, because they don’ t believe that whatever they leak through theft would otherwise be purchased at viable prices. If it costs them a dollar to protect a dollar and five cents of revenue, they’ re not interested.
What does keep them awake at night – and they are not alone here – is the fear of cyber-attack, be it for data theft, or denial of service for ransom. The protection providers who can play successfully in this market are the ones that will prosper.
Inside
The Wrap 4-8 Cover Story 10-15 Company contribution 16-17 Company contribution 18-19 Research 20 Executive interview 21 Preview 22
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