In advance of CES 2019, Synamedia, the largest independent video software provider, announced Synamedia Credentials Sharing Insight to help streaming service providers combat the rapid rise in account sharing between friends and families and turn it into a new revenue-generating opportunity.

The solution can also be used to detect and shut down large-scale, for-profit credentials sharing accounts run by fraudsters.

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 industry now recognizes that younger generations are used to accessing streaming services for free and rarely become paying customers. Media research firm Magid found that today 26% of millennials share passwords for video streaming services, while Parks Associates predicts that in 2021, $9.9 billion of pay-tv revenues and $1.2 billion of OTT revenues will be lost to credentials sharing.

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Using AI, behavioral analytics and machine learning, Synamedia Credentials Sharing Insight identifies, monitors and analyzes credentials sharing activity across streaming accounts. Real-time dashboards highlight unusual sharing activity including alerts and trend analysis.

By integrating the credentials sharing policy engine with its subscriber database, the operator can apply specific policies – such as an action to upsell – to any account whose sharing score exceeds a predefined threshold. Armed with these insights, 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.  If the latter, then subscribers are offered a premium shared account service that includes a pre-authorized level of password sharing and a higher number of concurrent users.

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The learning system’s analytics take advantage of the collective, anonymized intelligence gained from multiple Synamedia customers, reducing the learning curve for new customers. The design incorporates expertise from Synamedia’s team of security experts, who understand how and where to look for suspicious activity and how to integrate this knowledge and understanding into the behavioral models.

“Casual credentials sharing is becoming too expensive to ignore. Our new solution gives operators the ability to take action. 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,” said Jean Marc Racine, CPO and GM EMEA of Synamedia.

Available as a cloud or on-premise offering, Synamedia Credentials Sharing Insight is already in trials with a number of pay-TV operators. Customers can manage the monetization using Infinite, Synamedia’s blended, cloud-based multi-screen platform, or by deploying Credential Sharing Insights as a stand alone product integrated with their existing Pay-TV Platform.

Building on Synamedia’s 20-year track record in video security products and services, the solution forms part of Synamedia’s market-leading VideoGuard portfolio. Synamedia VideoGuard secures leading pay-TV operators’ broadcast and streaming content, services and revenues worldwide. It currently protects over 330 million active client devices and over $100 billion in customer revenues.

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