Multiple DRM and content pre-conditioning is now used by a large number of OTT platforms for protecting and monetising their content. Read this post to know how multiple DRMs and pre-conditioning works and helps OTT platforms.

Illegal downloading, sharing, streaming, and copying continues to be a grave problem for the online entertainment industry. With the astonishing rise of OTT (Over the Top) video content platforms, the need to protect content against online piracy is at an all-time high. 

Apart from piracy, OTT platforms that generate revenue through advertisements in their premium content also continue to suffer due to the complex ad insertion process across platforms. Using multiple DRM and content pre-conditioning are two methods with the help of which piracy and complexities of ad insertion can be effectively eliminated. 

Let us have a look at what multiple DRM and content pre-conditioning is and how it helps OTT platforms-

Multiple DRM for OTT Platforms

DRM or Digital Rights Management has been around for a long time. It is used by content creators, distributors, and platforms for protecting their content. It does so with the help of encryption and ensures that only authorised users can access the content. But with the rising importance of DRM, platforms like operating systems, browsers, devices, and media players now come with their native DRMs.

For instance, Android devices now come with Widevine DRM. This means that only the content that supports Widevine DRM can be accessed by Android devices. Thus, to make sure that all the popular platforms are able to access, view, or use their content, OTT platforms now make use of multiple DRM. While this helps in increasing the reach of their content, on the other hand, it also ensures that only authorised users get access to the premium content.

Content Pre-Conditioning for Ad-Insertion

Content pre-conditioning is the process of inserting ads to your content. This is mostly done with the help of server-side solutions such as DFP from Google or client-side solutions such as Tremor Video or Freewheel. However, a major difficulty in the pre-conditioning process is ensuring that the ads will be displayed across devices, DRMs, and 3rd party tools and solutions used by the OTT platform. 

The ad workflows often have a host of bottlenecks which should be effectively removed to ensure that the ads work flawlessly and the OTT platform is able to monetise them. Latest content pre-conditioning solutions allow OTT platforms to insert ads directly during the packaging phase of DRM.

Moreover, platforms can also add custom ad markers or custom metadata in the video timeline so that the native video player takes the necessary action as and when required. Ultimately, this helps in preventing delays during ad playback and enables OTT platforms to generate higher ad revenue. 

Content Protection and Higher Ad Revenue with Multi-DRM and Content Pre-Conditioning

As you can see, multi-DRM and content pre-conditioning can offer several benefits to OTT platforms. Video content platforms can look for multiple DRM service providers that also offer content packaging services to effectively manage the security of their content and increase their ad revenue.  

Some of the DRM service providers also support live content and VOD and come pre-integrated with forensic watermarking to increase the safety of premium video content further.