OTT Content Security: The Pros, Cons, and Practicalities of Limiting Concurrent Streams
Most video streaming services take steps to prevent password sharing by limiting the number of devices each account can register and use, or by restricting the number of concurrent streams that can be started using the same credentials. For many OTT services, concurrent stream limits (CSLs) are a fundamental requirement of their content licensing agreements. Their challenge is to balance user experience with enforcement of the agreed restrictions. Beyond compliance, CSLs can also be a powerful tool for protecting revenue, managing costs, and even unlocking new business opportunities. Done wrong, they can frustrate users and drive churn. Done right, they reduce password sharing, safeguard platform performance, and even create upselling opportunities for premium subscriptions.
In this blog, I’ll explore the strategic and technical implications of concurrent stream limits in OTT services with SVOD, AVOD and hybrid business models. And I’ll look at how a thoughtful, holistic approach can help your OTT business thrive while keeping both users and rights holders happy.
Limiting concurrent streams is just one of the content and platform security measures outlined in our free OTT security e-guide, “Safeguarding Your Content & Platform.” Download it now to learn about DRM, Geo-blocking, VPN and Proxy Detection, Parental Controls, Data Protection, Platform Protection and more.
The Why: The Case For Limiting Concurrent Streams in OTT
Let’s start by looking at the benefits of streaming limits, beyond the simple reason that the rights-holders insist on it to prevent password sharing and piracy. Without any CSL, sharing passwords between friends – or even with strangers on a public forum – is easy. That’s bad news from a piracy perspective but also for performance. When tens of thousands of users hit your platform simultaneously, you’d better be ready to handle that traffic or your paying customers will suffer from long start-up times, stream-drop-outs, slow authentication, and service lag that will damage your reputation and drive up your churn. This is especially true if you’re offering live events or premium sports. In these cases, using CSLs can be a proactive step towards safeguarding performance and protecting user satisfaction with your service.
There’s also a cost implication to multiple users accessing the content at the same time. Variable platform fees – such as CDN delivery costs and per-license DRM rates – can very quickly add up, a phenomenon known as “bandwidth draining”.
The Why Not: Challenges Created by OTT Concurrent Stream Restrictions
Of course, there are downsides to limiting the number of streams a user account can access at once. The biggest of these is user experience. If you live in a multi-person household, it’s quite normal to expect that two people might access the same content (or different pieces of content from the same OTT provider) on different devices at the same time. Perhaps your teenagers prefer to watch on a tablet in their bedrooms rather than share the sofa with their parents. Perhaps your partner wants to watch a TV series while you relax with a movie. Hard and fast limits can make for a frustrating experience, and it’s essential that you find an adequate way to explain and signpost these restrictions to users, both at the moment of purchasing a subscription AND at the point where the limit is reached or breached.
Some operators (for example, Netflix, Amazon Prime) choose a “first man standing” approach, which means the first person to start their stream gets to keep watching, and others who come along later from the same account will be prevented from starting a subsequent stream. Other streaming platforms (for example, Spotify and Amazon Music) prefer the “last man standing” strategy, which means that when your teen presses play in their bedroom, there’s a good chance you’ll abruptly lose access.
Not only do both scenarios quite likely lead to raised voices, they limit the potential for your service to be used to its full potential in each household. We all know that, for SVOD services in particular, the more use your app gets, the less likely it is to be on the churn list when household finances are reviewed. For the record, Magine Pro’s OTT platform enables our customers to work on a “first man standing” basis when limiting streams.
Enforcing concurrency restrictions isn’t just a UX challenge. It also adds a layer of additional technical complexity and load into your apps. Regular checks need to be made for each active stream to confirm that no other stream start has been attempted on another device. The closer together the checks, the shorter the window in which users may get illicit access to multiple streams. However, there’s a trade-off between enforcement and the additional backend load these checks create, which could create unwanted latency, particularly for large-scale live events.
We’ve seen checks taking place as far apart as every 30 seconds, but typically recommend one check per 10 seconds. Once again, you’ll need to ensure your platform has the performance to carry out all these checks without degrading the user experience. A well-optimized system balances security with performance efficiency, ensuring minimal disruption to legitimate users while keeping unauthorized access in check.
The How: How to Implement Stream Limits Effectively
So, what is standard practice for limiting access? For perhaps the past ten years, the most common approach we’ve seen our customers use, influenced by the Apple iTunes store, is to limit users to two concurrent streams AND a maximum of five registered devices. If the user wants to start using a sixth device (perhaps because someone in the household has a new phone or TV) then they’ll need to de-register an existing one. This is typically done via the OTT service’s web app.
One way to mitigate frustration created by such limits is to ensure the UX for managing your registered devices is intuitive, reducing friction while maintaining security. It’s also important that your customer service team has access to a portal they can use to help users who’ve reached their limit. For example, the Magine Pro Console gives OTT services the ability to look up all the devices registered to an individual subscriber and reset registrations where necessary.
Below is an example of how consumers manage their registered devices on the website of our customer’s service, using the Magine Pro OTT Platform’s APIs to set and enforce the restrictions across multiple devices.
While big streaming services like Netflix continue to refer to their packages as limiting the number of “devices” a customer can use, the reality is that the restriction is on concurrent streams. You can login to as many individual TVs, phones and tablets as you like with one set of credentials, but you’ll only be able to watch one, two or four streams at once, depending on your subscription package.
The When: Targeting Concurrent Stream Limits To Content
Most SVOD services enforce a blanket CVL policy across their whole service. You can watch any two assets concurrently – including the same asset on two devices at the same time. However, things become a little more complex when there are live events (especially sport), AVOD or a combination of business models in the mix. This is where you want an OTT platform that allows you to be more granular with applying CVLs.
For ad-funded content, it makes less sense to limit concurrent streams – the more views, the more money you make from advertising. If you’re combining AVOD and SVOD, you will want the ability to mix and match restrictions across content with different business models. Equally, we’ve seen an increase in sports rights holders mandating just one concurrent stream per user for high-profile live events. If your streaming service includes live sports streams, or rebroadcasts TV channels with such rights, then you’ll need the ability to enforce these tighter controls on a per-asset basis. Look for an OTT Platform that gives you the flexibility to take this kind of holistic approach.
Concurrent Stream Limits can also be a business opportunity. Major platforms like Netflix and Disney+ have already proven that consumers are willing to pay for more concurrent streams. In fact, Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing, accompanied by the introduction of a ‘paid sharing’ model, has resulted in millions of new paying subscribers. For smaller OTT services, adopting a similar approach could be a strategic revenue driver (where licensing agreements allow): upselling premium plans, offering family packages, or bundling additional streams with other perks (such as ad-free viewing) can increase ARPU while keeping users engaged.
If, however, your research suggests such premium tiers would not be successful in your target market, there are alternatives. If you own your own content or have relatively liberal licensing agreements and can afford to offer all your users more than the average number of concurrent streams, then this may also be a great way to differentiate your service from the competition.
The Rest: Combining CSLs with Other Security Measures
If you want to know more about how Magine Pro can help you safeguard your content and your OTT platform, download our free security e-guide. It’s got valuable insights on how to blend CSLs with other measures such as DRM, Geo-blocking, VPN and Proxy Detection, Parental Controls, Data Protection, and protections for your platform against malicious intrusion.
Download the e-guide here
