Video software provider Synamedia has launched a new solution, designed to help streaming service providers combat what it sees is a rapid rise in account sharing.
As well as attempting to turn account sharing through use of the same password into a new revenue-generating opportunity, the new Synamedia Credentials Sharing is also designed to see use in detecting and shut down large-scale, for-profit credentials sharing accounts run by fraudsters.
Synamedia suggests that until now most OTT providers have turned a blind eye to casual password sharing, seeing it as a way to market their service to new audiences but the company says that things are different now with the industry now recognising that younger generations are used to accessing streaming services for free and rarely become paying customers. It cited research from Magid showing that currently just over a quarter of millennials share passwords for video streaming services. The ramifications of this are enormous: Parks Associates predicts that in 2021, $9.9 billion in pay-TV revenues and $1.2 billion of OTT revenues will be lost to credentials sharing.
To combat this, Synamedia Credentials Sharing uses artificial intelligence, behavioural analytics and machine learning, Insight identifies, monitors and analyses credentials sharing activity across streaming accounts. Real-time dashboards highlight unusual sharing activity including alerts and trend analysis. The learning system’s analytics uses collective, anonymised intelligence gained from multiple Synamedia customers, reducing, said the company, the learning curve for new customers.
By integrating the credentials sharing policy engine with its subscriber database, Synamedia says that operators can apply specific policies - such as an action to upsell - to any account whose sharing score exceeds a predefined threshold. Armed with these insights, it says that marketing teams can tread the fine line between finding account sharers and harassing a customer. For example, the solution can determine whether users are viewing at their main home and a holiday home, or whether they have shared credentials with friends or grown-up children who live away from home.
“Casual credentials sharing is becoming too expensive to ignore. Our new solution gives operators the ability to take action,” said Jean Marc Racine, CPO and GM EMEA of Synamedia. “Many casual users will be happy to pay an additional fee for a premium, shared service with a greater number of concurrent users. It’s a great way to keep honest people honest while benefiting from an incremental revenue stream.”
Synamedia Credentials Sharing Insight is available as a cloud or on-premise offering and is already in trials with a number of pay-TV operators.
Synamedia suggests that until now most OTT providers have turned a blind eye to casual password sharing, seeing it as a way to market their service to new audiences but the company says that things are different now with the industry now recognising that younger generations are used to accessing streaming services for free and rarely become paying customers. It cited research from Magid showing that currently just over a quarter of millennials share passwords for video streaming services. The ramifications of this are enormous: Parks Associates predicts that in 2021, $9.9 billion in pay-TV revenues and $1.2 billion of OTT revenues will be lost to credentials sharing.
To combat this, Synamedia Credentials Sharing uses artificial intelligence, behavioural analytics and machine learning, Insight identifies, monitors and analyses credentials sharing activity across streaming accounts. Real-time dashboards highlight unusual sharing activity including alerts and trend analysis. The learning system’s analytics uses collective, anonymised intelligence gained from multiple Synamedia customers, reducing, said the company, the learning curve for new customers.
By integrating the credentials sharing policy engine with its subscriber database, Synamedia says that operators can apply specific policies - such as an action to upsell - to any account whose sharing score exceeds a predefined threshold. Armed with these insights, it says that marketing teams can tread the fine line between finding account sharers and harassing a customer. For example, the solution can determine whether users are viewing at their main home and a holiday home, or whether they have shared credentials with friends or grown-up children who live away from home.
“Casual credentials sharing is becoming too expensive to ignore. Our new solution gives operators the ability to take action,” said Jean Marc Racine, CPO and GM EMEA of Synamedia. “Many casual users will be happy to pay an additional fee for a premium, shared service with a greater number of concurrent users. It’s a great way to keep honest people honest while benefiting from an incremental revenue stream.”
Synamedia Credentials Sharing Insight is available as a cloud or on-premise offering and is already in trials with a number of pay-TV operators.
