Published on: November 27, 2024
In a recent SafetyDetectives interview, we heard from Robin Bolton, Head of Product at Friend MTS, a global leader in anti-piracy solutions. With over 15 years of experience in content protection and rights distribution, Robin brings a wealth of knowledge and innovation to the fight against digital piracy. Having started his career at the BBC and now leading Friend MTS’s product portfolio, Robin is dedicated to addressing the complex challenges of protecting premium video content in an ever-evolving media landscape.
Could you start by telling us a bit about your background and your current role at Friend MTS?
With a career spanning over 15 years in content protection, broadcast, and rights distribution, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the world’s most renowned rights owners. My journey began at the BBC, where I held senior roles, including leading supply chain strategy for BBC Worldwide, at the intersection of broadcast and content distribution.
I joined Friend MTS mid 2023, a company dedicated to safeguarding valuable content in an ever-evolving media landscape. I’m currently responsible for managing and developing our product portfolio, ensuring we continue to provide innovative solutions that address the industry’s most pressing challenges.
Can you give us an overview of Friend MTS’s mission and the primary challenges it aims to address in the digital content space?
Friend MTS is the leader in anti-piracy. We are the trusted business partner of world-leading brands in sports, media and entertainment to protect some of the most valuable premium video content around the globe. Every day we protect 26,000 hours of content, including more than $60billion of sports rights and over 100 million user devices.
Our mission is to help content owners, broadcasters and service operators uplift their revenues by combating piracy and reducing the impact of illicit content distribution. We strongly believe in creating a safe space where creative content is protected. Customers include ITV, FIFA, WWE, F1, Fubo and Premier League. A good number of the customers we had ten years ago are still customers today. One example is WWE. That’s an extraordinary achievement and a testament to our role as a trusted partner.
Our video security solutions include Emmy® award-winning fingerprint-augmented content monitoring, unique forensic watermarking technologies, industry-first dynamic server blocking, as well as global monitoring and legal enforcement.
With providers under pressure like never before to stop piracy to remain viable, we are focused on transforming video content security from a cost center to a revenue stream by turning pirate viewers into subscribers. We have demonstrated that when pirate streams become unavailable, viewers turn to legal services. Furthermore, customers can use our watermarking solutions to reach pirate audiences directly with a message that opens up a dialogue and encourages changes in behavior.
What are the most common concerns your clients have about digital piracy?
With reports predicting that piracy is expected to cost upwards of $113 billion by 2027, piracy is an existential threat. Given the vast sums involved, it is no surprise that pirates are constantly evolving their technology and adapting their processes to ensure that they maintain a steady flow of pirated content that they can redistribute and from which they can profit.
Operators and content owners intent on stopping pirates from stealing their content and revenue need to be confident they are working with a content security partner who can anticipate, adapt and scale their anti-piracy techniques to not only keep pace with the shifting pirate landscape but to predict and match the pirates’ talent for reinvention.
Customers rely on us to be able to stop all kinds of content piracy however it evolves. That means we have the ability to protect content of any type, work with any kind of platform, scale up and react quickly to new threats.
What steps should businesses take to enhance their content security infrastructure effectively?
A security audit is a critical first step to understanding each businesses’ specific content security needs, by gaining insights into the platform’s performance and detecting potential vulnerabilities. We recommend regular security audits to ensure a platform is robust to new forms of attack.
Stopping and outwitting pirates needs a multi-discipline approach using a range of anti-piracy services, techniques and technologies. This should include the ability to instantly ratchet up protection at the flick of a switch, particularly for live sports where providers have to be ready for an influx of viewers and ready to deliver at scale.
For example, trace-to-source techniques like forensic watermarking offer an effective way to identify and shut down the theft of valuable content in real time, whereas server blocking is used to prevent audiences finding pirate content, ensuring rights holders and their licensees’ content is accessed only through authorized outlets.
Effective large scale automated monitoring and enforcement techniques should also be augmented with human expertise for a multi-discipline approach.
It is vital to address all elements of the content chain including CDNs, DRM and multi-DRM, content processing services and social media platforms. This way it’s possible to analyze which networks are being leeched, detect vulnerabilities, and close any security gaps from end-to-end.
And cross-functional relationships are equally important – developing and maintaining strong inter-working relationships with ISPs, hosting providers, social media organizations, law enforcement, and trade associations such as CDSA, AVIA, and AAPA result in a joined-up piracy prevention strategy.