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In this white paper we’ll describe the content protection landscape and the critical considerations for content providers and publishers. We’ll guide you through the range of technologies available and help you determine which model works best for your business.

It’s a brave new world. Online video has opened up so many new ways for viewers to watch: from tablets to connected TVs to smartphones.

Access to premium content on these devices has moved from being a small miracle to being a necessity. Content owners can reach customers in more places with more targeted content than ever before, but with this opportunity comes risk: How do you present the hassle-free, high-quality experiences viewers demand, while still protecting your valuable assets? Moreover, how can content owners balance access, protection and monetization of premium content?

Protecting and Monetizing Premium Content


WHAT IS CONTENT PROTECTION?Content Protection covers a range of strategies and technologies that are critical to video security. Different content owners will require different levels of online video protection.

Content providers should understand the technologies needed to protect their video assets, and they should consider security options that offer geographic, time-based or user-based restrictions. Publishers must focus on giving their viewers the highest-quality video possible while also enforcing their business models. Protecting content is not about keeping people out. It’s a way to protect and enable content globally on just about any device.

Among the many challenges of delivering secure content are:

Delivery to every device, from Connected TVs to mobile, calls for different formats, transcodes and DRM solutions.

Many rights holders require extra security standards: for instance, secure content ingestion that protects access to encoding and streaming services. Or, unique playback rights based on individual viewers and their devices.

Managing content security in-house can be complex and cost-prohibitive unless you’re a very sophisticated organization.

DRM solutions must work seamlessly with the rest of a video platform. Content must be transcoded into various DRM formats and delivered to all screens for any business model to succeed.

Unauthorized users threaten revenue, it’s as simple as that. Publishers must limit access to those who have paid for it.

CHALLENGES FOR CONTENT TODAYThe sheer success of online video has created many of the challenges the industry faces today. Viewers expect to get top-quality movies, TV shows and even live streaming video delivered online wherever they happen to be, on devices ranging from smartphones to big-screen TVs.

Content owners are eager to feed this demand while also ensuring control of their assets during and after purchase. Rights purchasers (those who actually deliver the content) are also eager to comply with the needs and restrictions of rights holders.

As the growth of digital streaming and download services provides more opportunities for viewers, it also expands the number of ways in which content must be protected. Content protection has become a complex art, and matching the right protection strategy to the nature of the content is vital. A single approach is unlikely to work for premium VOD, linear TV streams, and pay-per-view live events, for example.

But legitimate viewers can be affected if online content is so heavily “locked down” that viewing it legally becomes too much trouble. Viewers may either simply give up on watching, or seek out alternative means of getting the content they want.


The goal, then, is to find the sweet spot between unprotected and unwatched. Everyone involved in online visual content—from writers, artists and directors to producers, distributors, operators and finally viewers—has a stake in finding that sweet spot.

With the emergence of Netflix and other subscription services, illegal downloads have declined in recent years. Yet the most-pirated movie of 2012—the teen comedy film Project X—was still downloaded illegally an estimated 8.7 million times. That’s an estimated total of over 75 million illegal downloads for just the 10 most-pirated movies.

Source: http://torrentfreak.com/project-x-most-pirated-movie-of-2012-121227/ *Data includes downloads up to mid-December 2012. Disc sales assume $25 average Blu-Ray/DVD price.

Estimated revenue = downloads * $25 average price.

Project X

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

The Dark Knight Rises

The Avengers

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

21 Jump Street

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Dictator

Ice Age: Continental Drift

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

8,720,000

8,500,000

8,230,000

8,110,000

7,850,000

7,590,000

7,420,000

7,330,000

6,960,000

6,740,000

Downloads

Estimated lost revenue on disc sales*: $1,936,250,000

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

MOST PIRATED MOVIES OF 2012


If this download rate continued for each show throughout a typical season, it would mean almost $1.5 billion in lost potential revenue just among the top 10 shows alone. While it’s likely that some illegal download viewers wouldn’t be willing to pay to view these shows, there’s clearly considerable revenue upside to ensuring the most appropriate content protection for premium content.

This opportunity has given rise to the growing field of content protection and in particular, digital rights management.

WHAT IS DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT (DRM)?In general, content protection includes any form of encryption or security that helps content providers prevent piracy and, at the same time, protect their revenue streams from service theft. The effort hackers or malicious users will spend on pirating content or illegally using a service will vary depending on the value of the video content, whether it is a home theatrical release or short-form ad-supported video. There is an equally wide range of content protection technologies to ensure simple access for those who are authorized to access your content. For example, if you have a subscription model, you will want to ensure that users who are subscribers can easily access your content. Otherwise, you may find it challenging to get customers to pay for content they can obtain for free.

Game of Thrones

Dexter

The Big Bang Theory

How I Met Your Mother

Breaking Bad

The Walking Dead

Homeland

House

Fringe

Revolution

10

12

24

24

13

13

12

22

22

22

4,280,000

3,850,000

3,200,000

2,960,000

2,580,000

2,550,000

2,400,000

2,340,000

2,280,000

2,130,000

Downloads

$170,772,000

$138,138,000

$229,632,000

$212,409,600

$100,284,600

$99,118,500

$86,112,000

$153,925,200

$149,978,400

$140,111,400

Estimated LostSeries Revenue

Episodesper Season

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

MOST PIRATED TV SHOWS OF 2012

Total Estimated Lost Revenue*: $1,480,481,700

Here’s a similar chart for TV episodes, tracking illegal downloads per episode.

Source: http://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-most-pirated-tv-show-of-2012-121223/ *Data includes downloads for 2012. Revenue estimates based off iTunes pricing for single episodes.

Revenue = cost per episode ($2.99–$3.99) x episodes per season * estimated downloads/episode.

http://torrentfreak.com/game-of-thrones-most-pirated-tv-show-of-2012-121223/


The term Digital Rights Management (or DRM) is often mistakenly used to refer to any level of content protection. In fact, DRM offers content owners a higher level of protection than most content protection technologies. We define DRM as:

A class of content protection technologies that allows rules to be associated with the content’s usage. These rules are enforced via sophisticated security technologies that can manage cryptographic keys, detect tampering with rule enforcement, detect jail-broken devices and even integrate with hardware security (often called a hardware root of trust). DRM is distinct from basic encryption such as encrypted HLS, which is often not sufficient for premium content delivery.

DRM is now commonly required by studios and broadcasters for premium content, and is explicitly called out in many content agreements. It’s a more robust form of protection than encryption alone. Leading studio-approved DRM technologies include Adobe Access, Google Widevine and Microsoft PlayReady. DRM is used or required by many stakeholders across the video distribution value chain:

Multi-DRM support lets broadcasters deliver premium content online without the complexity of licensing and running their own DRM systems. They can monetize content on desktops, mobile devices, connected TVs and game consoles.

Because it keeps content secure, DRM makes it easy for distributors to meet their obligations to rights holders.

DRM controls distribution and maximizes revenue across existing and emerging platforms and channels.

DRM helps distributors satisfy the security needs of the rights holders they license from, and create disruptive new distribution models.

DRM protects their content revenue and calms content owners’ fears about new kinds of services. Operators also want to protect their own businesses against service theft.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT CONTENT PROTECTION I NEED?Content protection can be an unfriendly barrier for viewers if it’s not done carefully. Publishers and distributors must provide desirable content in a hassle-free viewing experience that allow users to watch content anywhere. At the same time, content owners want to protect their revenue streams across a variety of business models. The more confidence the content owners have in security, the more they’ll be able to give consumers the viewing experiences they want most. For example, it wasn’t until studios felt that robust content protection technologies were in place that they agreed to make premium content available for digital streaming.

The more valuable the video, the greater the need for protection across a wide range of video release windows.

Digital Rights Management is often mistakenly used to refer to any level of content protection. In fact, DRM offers content owners a higher level of protection than most content protection technologies.


VIDEO RELEASE WINDOWSPremium content is distributed many ways, but the typical release windows are:

Theatrical

Hospitality

Purchase

Rental

Pay TV

Subscription

Broadcast TV

Theater chains

Hotels and airline

Exclusive wholesale to retailers before rental

Exclusive before pay TV

Exclusive before broadcast

Each release window supports a different business strategy based on content value. For example, the time differences between purchase and rental windows can be minimal, but some studios delay the rental window for weeks to protect the purchase revenue. (Some viewers are willing to pay a premium to see the movie earlier.)

High-value content needs more protection, because hackers will work harder to pirate it. The need for protection can best be determined by each publisher’s business model.

Notes: 1 Average time between theatrical release and purchase is 4 months (Ernst & Young, Mastering tempo: creating long-term value amidst ac-celerating demand, http://www.forum-avignon.org/en/ernst-young-study-forum-d-avignon) 2 Up to 30 day between purchase and rental window 3 Some video has a separate PPV window within weeks of rental 4 Pay TV window may be as early as 6 months after theatrical release


BUSINESS MODELS

NBC Olympics app for on-demand content playback with no authentication required

Limit playback to target geo

Ensure playback in branded player

No login (all users)

Syndication rules for geo and domain filtering

Playback: CDN URL signing

NBC Olympics app for live-streamed events where authentication and authorization are required

Same as above, plus:

Allow authorized consumers only

Prevent streams from being ripped or re-streamed (live)

Ooyala Player Token (OPT) or Adobe Pass (US only)

Syndication rules (geo and domain filtering) + authorization based on OPT or Pass token

CDN URL signing + encrypted streams (encrypted eHLS or RTMPe). Some content owners may require DRM-protected streams

Netflix Same as above, plus:

Avoid being circumvented by highly skilled attackers

Assign access (authorization) to each consumer based on rights (entitlements)

Ooyala Player Token (OPT) or Adobe Pass (US only)

Syndication rules (geo and domain filtering) + authorization based on OPT or Pass token + DRM w/Rights Locker, concurrent stream limits

CDN URL signing + either encrypted streams (encrypted eHLS or RTMPe) or DRM-protected streams

iTunes Same as subscription Ooyala Player Token (OPT) or Adobe Pass (US only)

Syndication rules ( geo and domain filtering) + authorization based on OPT or Pass token + DRM w/Rights Locker, concurrent stream limits

CDN URL signing + either encrypted streams (encrypted eHLS or RTMPe) or DRM-protected streams

This chart shows the different types of content and the typical concerns for each, along with the protection technologies available from Ooyala.

*Examples provided for context only; not necessarily Ooyala customers


Brands and publishers often distribute video with anonymous ad-funded business strategies as a marketing tool. Broadcasters and OTT aggregators may also use ad-funded models. This type of model generally features short (up to 10 minutes) or mid-form (10-20 minutes) content. Businesses

sell ads as part of their monetization strategy. Generally, anonymous ad-funded content is either older content (like previous TV episodes, broadcast window movies, on-demand recordings

of live events) or lower-value content (like movie trailers or news).

Anonymous ad-funded content typically needs less content protection, because hackers won’t work hard to pirate content with limited appeal or re-sale value.

Typical concerns include making sure that the content plays only within the geographies that advertisers care about, that the ad impressions (pre-, mid-, post-roll, interactive or display ads) occur within the site, and that deep-linking (using another player to play the underlying CDN stream) is prevented.

Anonymous ad-supported content doesn’t need a user login. CPM rates generally are on the lower end of the spectrum.

Authenticated ad-supported content is typically more valuable than anonymous ad-funded content, and so yields higher CPM rates. Authentication is typically based on a user login, which may not be required for every video play, portal visit or application launch. Some more advanced services improve the user experience by using Facebook or other social sites to simplify the

registration and login process. The user may even be authenticated via the device IP address when accessing the service from home.

This is an ad-supported business model, based on authenticated viewing with pre-, mid-, post-roll, interactive or display ads. Authenticated content generally is newer, like the latest TV episodes or live sports events. Authenticated ad-supported content may include longer-form video such as episodic TV VOD and linear broadcasts, in addition to short videos (less than 10 minutes) and mid-form content of 10 to 20 minutes.

Content protection concerns are similar to those in an anonymous model. But they also include making sure that only authenticated users, such as MPVD subscribers for TV Everywhere content, can view the content. Protocols are in place for age-restricted material and preventing re-streaming of content. With higher-value content comes the need to further protect against hackers who will try and pirate the assets when they first become available.

Broadcasters with new episodic content are one example of businesses who need authenticated access. It lets them create exclusivity for higher ad CPM rates, and they can continue to receive carriage fees from MVPDs. The same applies to live sporting events: broadcasters stream in real time and monetize with ads. Live content has higher value when first broadcast, and its value deteriorates after the event.

NBC created two ad-supported mobile apps for the 2012 Olympics.

The app allowed all users to view on-demand content without requiring a login.

The app only allowed users to view live events using their MVPD login credentials (TV Everywhere experience).


Subscriptions are a fee paid to view content. Generally, this is a monthly fee which lets viewers watch as much content as they want. Subscription services typically have a single tier for OTT (over-the-top) curated content. This can provide access to higher-value long-form content, such as Amazon Instant Video and other online movie services. As with the authenticated ad-supported model, more advanced services are trying to make login easier for the end user by using registration and login from social web sites.

Subscription-based models are good for things like full seasons of episodic TV or broadcast-window studio content (see release window definitions on page 6). Both types are typically available in SD or HD format. Much of this content will be limited to SD on mobile devices and desktops due to the fact that DRM technologies can’t create playback with robust protection. It’s worth noting that most of the broadcast-window studio content available under subscription can be viewed in HD format, since it’s an older form of content.

The subscription model faces the same content protection concerns as an anonymous or authenticated ad support business. It also needs to prevent the stream from being pirated for later playback—which almost always requires encrypted streaming, if not full DRM protection of the content.

A transaction-based model means the user is charged a fee per transaction to view video content. There are pure transaction sites as well as those with a hybrid of transaction and subscription content. The video offered may be brand-new TV episodes for purchase or rental (individual or whole seasons), often in either SD or HD. Studio content may be available in both SD and HD depending on the device. As content ages it may become available in HD to all device categories—or may even then become available for subscription.

There are three basic transaction types:

Available either via Electronic Sell Through (EST) as a download or as a stream

An expansion model that extends to 1-, 2- or 7-day rentals via streaming (which usually starts immediately). A second option is a playback window of 24 or 48 hours that must be started within the next 30 days, available in both streaming or download

Differs from rental in that the viewing period is limited and could be immediate or scheduled at a later time (as with HBO’s Saturday night fights)

Authentication for transaction-based content is based on a user login. Content protection concerns are the same as with the subscription model. However, publishers will also want to make sure that playback of HD content (generally the most valuable) is restricted by device, as some devices are more open to hackers than others.

In a subscription-based model, the content is generally either full seasons of episodic TV or broadcast-window studio content.


WHO PROVIDES CONTENT PROTECTION?There are three main types of DRM providers:

like Google Widevine, Microsoft PlayReady and Adobe Access

ż Provide a technology, not a service

ż Widely listed by studios in content license agreements as accepted content protection technology

like BuyDRM and EasyDRM

ż Provide a service

ż Deliver a subset of the technologies needed to deliver and monetize video

ż Offer content-protected streams, but not a way to house or do CRM

like Ooyala

ż Provide an integrated solution

ż Deliver a full user experience with all aspects of video delivery and management, including a comprehensive suite of content protection and monetization services

OOYALA’S CONTENT PROTECTION SOLUTIONOoyala provides studio-approved DRM on the devices that customers care about most. We offer a bundled solution that lets customers protect their content with all the flexibility needed to support a variety of business models.

Whatever your business model and content value, Ooyala has your content protection needs covered as part of our premium content delivery service. We provide the delivery, analytics and monetization strategies that drive user engagement and offer valuable user insights.

Ooyala can help with:

Identifying each unique viewer is a critical part of managing rights and playback. The Ooyala Player Token integrates easily with a publisher’s subscriber management system. For US broadcasters, Adobe Pass can also provide specific authentication for TV Everywhere viewing.

The Ooyala Player Token helps ensure that only authorized viewers can view content. For instance, viewers are prevented from sharing content with friends who don’t have accounts. In addition, Ooyala is integrated with Adobe Pass so Pay TV subscribers can watch on-demand online versions of their favorite channels.

Ooyala prevents video streams from being ripped and recorded and ensures that ads aren’t skipped or removed. Publishers can monetize their video with ads right in the stream. This provides an added level of protection on top of playback authorization.

Ooyala delivers your premium content at the highest level of security provided by studio-approved DRM providers—Adobe Access, Google Widevine, and Microsoft PlayReady — across all the devices that matter to your consumers. Publishers can monetize their content on mobile devices, set-top boxes, gaming consoles and connected TVs, while distributors can meet their obligations to rights holders.


The Ooyala Rights Locker is a scalable authorization system that enforces granular access control to VOD/live/linear content, based on rights (entitlements) that publishers assign to each consumer. Publishers can update the rights locker through APIs to grant and remove rights to either an individual asset or a “bundle” (collection) of assets; assets can be discrete movies, live events, linear channels or even specific virtual assets within a given channel. When added to other content protection capabilities (such as multi-DRM, encrypted streaming, and authentication), Ooyala Rights Locker also gives publishers better visibility into usage patterns and revenue streams, like the numbers of active subscribers, authenticated users and rentals or purchases.

Concurrent stream limits let publishers limit the simultaneous streams being played by one particular user account. This protects a publisher’s revenue streams by preventing account sharing. It also meets stringent studio license agreements that specify concurrent stream limit enforcement.

CONCLUSIONThe current challenges in content protection are really a success story. Online video has more users, more devices, and more great content available than ever before. Publishers are ready to deliver personalized content that viewers truly care about. Demand for premium content is growing and viewer expectations are high.

With no content protection there would be no way to protect revenues, and so premium content would not be available.

The good news is that everyone is pulling in the same direction: content owners, distributors, operators and broadcasters all want better content protection that’s easy for consumers to

use. The key is using a comprehensive content protection solution that provides flexibility and security for publishers but also removes pain points for end users.

There are many ways to reach that goal, and that’s a key point: Content protection is not one-size-fits- all. Matching the right protection strategy to the content is essential, especially with premium video.

And the same goes for consumers: What will work for some viewers and devices won’t work for others. The goal is to identify the best model for your business: one that allows you to seamlessly deliver premium, protected content across all devices.

Ooyala helps publishers and content owners deliver a hassle-free premium content experience to their customers. We’ve created a suite of content protection technologies that will suit any business model, now and in the future.

To learn more about how Ooyala can help you solve this equation, please contact us: [email protected].

Content protection is not one-size-fits-all. Matching the right protection strategy to each type of content is essential.

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