M+E Daily

Attendees of the Dec. 16 Content Protection Summit event in Los Angeles will hear from NAGRA experts on multiple issues around watermarking and its importance to the media and entertainment industry.

First up will be Ken Gerstein, VP of sales for NAGRA, and Jason Deadrich, CTO of Vision Media, in the discussion “Always-on Security: The Importance of Watermarking in Production and Post-Production.” Due to the pandemic, advancements in the industry that were thought to be years away happened seemingly overnight, with new business, production, and distribution models arriving earlier than expected. But the new market dynamics have also made for a perfect storm where content is vulnerable to theft and leaks. They’ll tackle what security is needed to protect pre-release content, and how to best secure high-value content assets in the production and post-production stage.

“In today’s streaming world, protecting content anywhere that it’s viewed is critical. While the move to streaming formats for pre-release content had begun pre-COVID, it has been accelerated by the pandemic,” Gerstein said. “Forensic watermarking is one of the key tools to secure digital screener platforms and protect valuable content from theft. I look forward to discussing the value of ‘Always-On’ security in the production and post-production space alongside Vision Media in our CPS session.”

Then, in the presentation “How Watermarking is Proven to Protect Your Revenue and Fight Piracy,” David Wurgler, senior director of NAGRA Anti-Piracy and NexGuard, will look at the security difficulties around direct-to-streaming services and the best ways to prevent valuable content from appearing on illegal streaming sites. Forensic watermarking identifies where the leak came from and how, once the perpetrator is identified, you can seek remedial action.

“For studios looking to release PVOD titles or any other content direct to streaming, the need for an anti-piracy strategy is key. Unfortunately, it is often an afterthought and when the asset is released, it’s too late and the asset has been pirated, compromising revenues and profit margins from the get-go. But studios fighting piracy in the direct-to-streaming era cannot rely on just one tactic,” Wurgler said. “It requires investment in multiple lines of defense and execution of the right anti-piracy strategy. I look forward to diving into those details during my session at CPS.”

Produced by MESA and presented by IBM Security and Synamedia, the Content Protection Summit is sponsored by Convergent Risks, Richey May Technology Solutions, PacketFabric, archTIS, Code42, INTRUSION, NAGRA, StoneTurn and Vision Media.

To register for the event, click here.

To join CDSA or sponsor the Content Protection Summit, contact Evie Silvers at [email protected] or email [email protected]