During the world's largest football event, Viaccess-Orca's Eye on Piracy solution monitored live-streaming piracy in real time. The reports detailed key challenges faced by content service providers during high-profile sports events.
Data Reveals Peak Viewer Activity
The analysis showed that the number of viewers accessing illegal streaming websites increased significantly during afternoon matches, when most European viewers were still at work and without access to traditional TV. The reports indicated a total of 20 million viewers on illegal sites throughout the event.
Efforts to Combat Piracy
In response, Viaccess-Orca sent over 3,200 takedown notices to pirate site owners and identified that 60% of football event viewers streamed at least one match online. The company also noted a surge in new content platforms among the top five link farms as soon as the competition began.
Social Media's Role
While social media played a crucial role, both positively and negatively, Viaccess-Orca found that Facebook and Twitter were often used by piracy groups. For instance, during one match, 51 out of 707 takedown notices sent to pirate site owners referred to content platforms mentioned on Facebook.
Recommendations for Content Providers
To combat these issues, Viaccess-Orca recommends making legal streaming services available by rights holders. This approach maximizes viewing opportunities and optimizes the service's return on investment. Proper management of CDN scalability is also essential to handle surges in demand during peak periods.