Anti-Piracy

By Chris Tribbey

The origin story of Boston-based MediaSilo goes like this: In 2007, the company’s founder Kai Pradel (then-owner of a local video production agency) spent more than a month sending DVDs back and forth between a client, trying to get approval for a video testimonial.

That exhausting experience led Pradel and his team to debut a better way of sharing professional media: a streaming platform that adapts to new workflows, works across platforms, and keeps security at the forefront.

Hulu, DreamWorks Animation, Viacom, HBO, Red Bull and BBC are among MediaSilo’s more prominent clients today, all taking advantage of a media-sharing solution that saw more than five million videos viewed using the company’s video sharing platform in the past 12 months.

Pradel, CEO and founder of MediaSilo, spoke with the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA) about the latest in the world of video file sharing, the mistakes media and entertainment companies make when sharing their content, and the increasing importance of watermarking. 

MESA: Streamlining video file sharing has been at the heart of what MediaSilo does since its inception. How has secure video file sharing evolved recently, and how has MediaSilo specifically advanced the cause?

Pradel: We’ve been heartened to see that video sharing has become a more democratic, open and easier process than it was we when first started the company to help solve that problem. There are certainly more options than ever when it comes to video sharing. We find our sweet spot is working with enterprise-level companies who need strong security options in addition to simple usability. We like to think we pioneered a broad and flexible range of protection possibilities, from robust permission management to expiring ‘QuickLinks,’ and we’re always adding new security features, from multi-factor authentication to our new SafeStream on-demand watermarking technology. It’s important that security protocols don’t add too much friction to the sharing process, or people won’t use them, so ease of use is always at the top of mind when we release a new feature.

MESA: What are some of the media and entertainment industry’s biggest mistakes when it comes to the sharing of digital video content, and what should these companies be doing differently? 

Pradel: Human instinct is that the closer we keep something to the vest, the more secure it is, but we no longer live in a world where content can be totally locked down. No one person or IT department can know every producer, freelancer or executive interacting with a piece of content. The clients we’ve seen be most successful are those who have moved from old top-down models of security management to more decentralized systems, where designated project managers are empowered to make decisions about the most appropriate security protocols for each situation. The people closest to the content are in the best position to decide how sensitive a particular video is and who should have access to it, as long as you have some checks and balances in place to keep people accountable. There are initial growing pains to moving to this more inclusive culture, but it’s definitely worth it in the long run in terms of how nimble you can be in producing an ever-growing slate of content.

The other trend we’ve noticed is that many content creators seem to have just accepted leaks and piracy as a cost of doing business. They will use their own best security practices only some of the time, either because they’re too expensive, cumbersome or time-consuming. Or they’ll use effective techniques like forensic watermarking, but only to track down offenders after the damage has already been done. We don’t think media companies need to accept those kinds of tradeoffs and compromises when it comes to protecting their content.

MESA: Watermarking has become a necessity for securing digital content … but what else should be required, in terms of avoiding piracy and security leaks? Permissions? Login restrictions? Limited playback options?

Pradel: Watermarking is a necessity, but it’s not being used effectively throughout the production chain. Most dailies and rough cuts are not being watermarked, or if they are, in such a generic way as to be almost useless. DVD screeners can be watermarked, but physical copies can easily be grabbed and torrented, as evidenced by the fact that this was the first year all of the Best Picture Oscar nominees were pirated well before the awards. Forensic watermarking can work, but there’s no visual deterrent to prevent pirates from sharing the content, just legal options after the fact. We’re seeing adult media companies attempt to prosecute based solely on IP address, which is a wildly inaccurate method of identifying who’s responsible.

We believe watermarking should be used throughout the production process, from pre all the way to post, and that it should be both visual and personal whenever possible. Our SafeStream watermarking technology can place a custom, personally identifiable watermark on a video in real-time. Our goal is to make watermarking accountable, affordable and ubiquitous, while still providing a good user experience. When you can trace a file straight back to the person who was authorized to see it, we think you’ll see less unauthorized sharing while simultaneously stripping a lot of the friction out of the sharing process.

MESA: What are some of MediaSilo’s favorite use case examples, where clients made especially good use of the company’s offerings?

Pradel: Oh, there are too many to name! Viacom is a great example of a company that undertook the cultural change we discussed above to decentralize their management while simultaneously reducing the number of security weaknesses created by departments going rogue with unauthorized tools or workflows.

Vice always finds creative ways to use the MediaSilo platform, such as creating a global screening room for their TV department, or creating a B-roll library to leverage their own footage rather than paying for an outside service. They also use the platform to securely host and share long-form interviews with freelance translators around the world. With the launch of new cable channel Viceland, they are going to be using the platform even more extensively; they really exemplify the trend of original content proliferation we’re seeing across all of our clients.

We’re also really proud of our robust API. Damon Dash Studios recently built a paid-subscription video service on top of our API, dramatically cutting the time to market and creating a killer Apple TV app for the service to boot. We’d love to see more people do creative things by tapping into our exposed services.

MESA: What does MediaSilo offer in the ways of analytics and data for its clients?

Pradel: Of course, we offer standard analytics that allow our users to track who is watching their videos, and from where. But we find that different clients have wildly different preferences for what they want to track, so as a result, we’ve embraced an open system that integrates with other best-in-class tools. We log absolutely every activity that happens on our system, and through web-hooks, clients can put together a reporting and analytics package that works best for them. We want MediaSilo to work in conjunction with whatever else people might be using to interact with their video or collaborate with their team.

MESA: What’s next for MediaSilo … what improvements for the platform are on the way, and what can we expect next from the company?

Pradel: We’re very intrigued with solving the ‘tomorrow problem’ of what to do with the burgeoning amount of video that’s being produced by media companies, agencies and independent content producers. How can you realize value from the ‘accidental archive’ of B-roll and rough cuts that you’re building on your way to finished content? Now that the cost of storage has dropped significantly, we would like our clients to never have to think about moving or deleting their content again – partly because it’s a pain, and partly because you never know what might be valuable down the line IF you can easily find it. We’d love to solve the metadata problem by removing the friction from that process as well.