The Streaming Video Alliance , an industry forum solving challenges to improve the video experience, announced the publication of a technical document that provides considerations for implementing forensic watermarking as a tactic for combatting the piracy of online video content. The Forensic Watermarking Implementation Considerations for Streaming Media was developed by the the Alliance’s Privacy and Protection Working Group. Additionally, marking the Alliance’s steady growth and continued advancement, Yves Boudreau of Ericsson and Jens Loeffler of Adobe were elected as new board members. The Alliance will hold its next meeting in Budapest, Hungary in October 2018.

“The piracy of online video content is a significant issue for content owners and distributors. Watermarking is a useful tool to combat theft as it permits tracing stolen copies back to the source of the leak,” said Jason Thibeault, Executive Director of the Streaming Video Alliance. “Our technical document aims to educate industry members on different watermarking methods, rather than promoting any specific approach, to help identify what best fits their organization’s specific media workflows and business needs.”

Watermarks can be embedded by content providers to contain distributor identifiers, content identifiers, and subscriber identifiers for nearly all types of content including live content, delivered to individual subscribers.

Jason Thibeault, Executive Director of the Streaming Video Alliance, will discuss the forensic watermarking technical document in more detail in a related presentation on “Strategies for Protecting your OTT Content” at the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA) Media & Entertainment Day. The presentation will take place today from 4:45 – 5:15pm ET on Floor B at the Microsoft Conference Center on Eighth Avenue in New York City.

On the Horizon: Quarterly Member Meeting in Budapest

The Alliance’s Q3 European meeting will be hosted by Principal Member IBM and will be held at their state of the art labs in the center of Budapest, Hungary. Working Groups in the areas of Measurement/QoE, Open Caching, Advertising, Privacy & Protection, Networking & Transport, Live Streaming and the VR Study Group will meet at this event.

Members of the Alliance include companies and individuals from across the streaming video ecosystem such as network operators, technology providers, service providers, and content owners.