As Sport increasingly shifts towards digital channels, the long-standing battle against piracy is proving to be a significant challenge.
The growth we’ve seen in Sports, and many high industry asset valuations, are based on the assumption that Sports Rights values will continue to rise. Piracy, however, is costing revenue and threatening to undermine that.
A report from Synamedia and Ampere Analysis in March 2021 estimated that sports piracy costs the industry up to $28.3 billion per year. For a $501.43bn industry, that’s massive.
The issue is exacerbated by distributed broadcasters. Fragmentation often requires fans to subscribe to multiple services to watch their favourite sports. For instance, following all English Premier League games requires subscriptions to Sky Sports, TNT Sports, and Amazon Prime Video, costing around $85 to $100 per month. Boxing can be even worse. With the cost-of-living crisis, it’s not surprising people are resorting to piracy.
You only have to look at the Music industry to see how damaging piracy can be and how things could continue for the Sports industry. However, there is hope for Sport.
While technology plays a role in enabling piracy, it also offers solutions. AI, in particular, can both aid and combat piracy. It’s a double-edged sword.
So what’s the current state of play?
Several sports leagues and broadcasters have already begun using AI-based solutions to fight piracy successfully. For example:
- Companies like Irdeto use AI to detect and remove pirated content by identifying broadcaster logos and other visual cues.
- The English Premier League has partnered with Videocites to monitor and remove unauthorised streams, resulting in a notable decrease in illegal streams and a rise in legitimate viewership. DAZN (who are also using the platform) has claimed Videocites has the potential to be 98% effective.
Experts suggest AI solutions can cut the impact of piracy by up to 50%, potentially recouping billions of dollars in lost revenue. AI could identify potential piracy hotspots and emerging distribution channels, and armed with this foresight, rights holders could develop targeted strategies to combat piracy effectively and protect their valuable content.
However, pirates will also use AI to enhance their operations. Pirates will employ algorithms to develop more sophisticated methods of distributing unauthorised sports content. With AI-driven tools, pirates could evade detection, manipulate content, and exploit loopholes in existing anti-piracy measures, presenting a formidable challenge to legitimate stakeholders.
The industry must continuously adapt and innovate to protect its valuable content – this battle is not going away anytime soon.
