[ Note: An invitation to attend AVIA-CAP’s Nov. 6th Anti Piracy Sports Round Table is at the end of this article. ]
By Neil Gane, GM, Asia Video Industry Assn., Coalition Against Piracy
“So why the focus on sports piracy?”
The surge of IPTV piracy has certainly been a wake-up call for many in the entertainment industry and everyone within the sports industry, who no longer see digital piracy as merely a cost of doing business.
Recognising you have a problem is the first step in fixing the problem, as Mr. Yousef Al-Obaidly, CEO of BeIN Media Group, made clear: “Seemingly, everyone in this industry is asleep at the wheel and refuses to confront the piracy elephant that’s been in the room for years.”
With legitimate live sports streaming services growing, online piracy today is a more direct competitor than ever, in terms of technical delivery modes and business models. The piracy of yesteryear co-existed with legitimate services, however the piracy of today is a direct replacement.
In another disturbing development, in Southeast Asia we are beginning to see a consolidation of bigger players dominating the market for pirated content. As with many other profitable crimes, it was only a matter of time before criminal syndication took over.
But there are reasons for the entertainment industry to be upbeat.
In Southeast Asia, governments increasingly agree that the online world needs to be managed and that there must be effective rules and enforcement procedures to do that. Existing regulatory site-blocking regimes are becoming more streamlined and effective, such as those in Indonesia and Malaysia. Other governments are in the process of enhancing or introducing new site-blocking protocols, including Thailand and the Philippines.
Disruption strategy
Site-blocking is a key feature of the Coalition Against Piracy (CAP) disruption strategy, and by working with local partners and coalitions we have successfully engaged with governments to introduce streamlined and effective regulatory site blocking protocols.
In Indonesia, CAP formed the Video Coalition of Indonesia (VCI) in early 2019 which has grown to include media conglomerates, sports rights-holders, film producers’ associations, domestic terrestrial content creators, pay-television operators, and OTT platform operators.
Indonesian success
Since July 2019, on behalf of the VCI, CAP has referred over 2,500 live sports and video-on-demand pirate streaming sites and application domains to the telco regulator, KOMINFO, with the result that an average 60 sites are being blocked every 10 days. The results of this rolling site-blocking strategy have been impressive, with Indonesia fast becoming a leader in video IP protection in Southeast Asia, boosting the growth of local and international legitimate services.
Piracy traffic has dropped an estimated 69% in 12 months (August 19 – August 20) and traffic to legal live channels and video sites increasing by an estimated 30% within the same period. In June 2020 an Indonesian YouGov consumer survey found a massive 55% reduction in consumers accessing piracy streaming sites over the past ten months, with 28% of online consumers admitting to accessing piracy websites compared to 63% from a similar survey conducted in September 2019.
Note: Here ends the first half of an article, which concludes with our next issue on November 5.
Attend AVIA CAP’s Anti-Piracy Sports Round Table
The page linked to the image below contains a link to request attendance (half-way down, may@avia.org). In your email, please indicate that you are a reader of Piracy Monitor and were invited to attend by Mr. Gane. Remember to include your contact details. Thank you.
About AVIA, the Asia Video Industry Association
The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) is THE trade association for the video industry and ecosystem in Asia Pacific. It serves to make the video industry stronger and healthier through promoting the common interests of its members. Understanding global trends in media, AVIA is focused specifically on addressing issues in the video markets of Asia.
Disrupting the technological ecosystem of the pirate websites, as well as the illicit commercial transactions at the point of sale, are core to disrupting the wider piracy ecosystem. AVIA works alongside technology platforms, payment processors, app stores and other intermediaries.
Visit AVIA. Visit AVIA’s Coalition Against Piracy
