HIGHLIGHTS
- DRM Stategic Planning
- Cost of Ownership
- Help Keep Content Secure
- Learn from Mainstream M&E
When creating a strategy for onboard entertainment, Digital Rights Management (DRM) has become a significant factor in how to best serve the passenger demographic. DRM is a set of rules that enable the content to be consumed when the environment and viewer is authenticated. This topic encompasses a wide scope including what types of content you can exhibit, which distributors will grant licensing rights to you, ways the content is monetized onboard,
equipment product life span, and impact on content integration logistics.
Ensure the DRM can accommodate your content business model.
The IFEC market is evolving at unprecedented rates, which is mainly driven by the mainstream consumer electronic market. Future IFEC systems will continue to expand in ways that increase content selections and better serve the passenger with targeted content. Furthermore, the way in which content will be licensed is likely to drastically change. Due to the introduction of connectivity, the licensing market will become much more competitive for distributors. We might even see some content providers pay for access to the captive audience in an aircraft. All this said, DRM governs the rights for multiple types of business models including purchase, subscription, rental, and downloading or side-loading.
Create economies of scale across the fleet.
The total cost of ownership of DRM is a critical metric to thoroughly evaluate when selecting IFEC systems. DRM is a program, not a project. It requires ongoing management and could drastically increase technical operational cost if a good plan is not defined. Multiple types of DRM are often required to support browser-based playback as well as app based playback, across wireless and seatback platforms. If the DRM requires manipulation to accommodate different IFEC systems, comply with on-wing software versions, force multiple content integration workflows, it is likely to increase total cost of ownership. However, some costs can potentially be reduced in the encoding process, in the event the source video can be encrypted for multiple types of DRM.
Should airlines be concerned about breach of rights?
It goes without saying that keeping content secure, based on the established terms of the license agreement, is very important. Though piracy has never really been a big concern in the IFEC market, there could potentially be more vulnerabilities in the future market if DRM is not taken very seriously. As consumer-owned devices become more integrated into the IFEC platform, introduction of onboard wireless networks, and potentially integration with off-aircraft content environments, it is critical that the content is accessed as intended by the distributor. Since the license is granted in a B2B relationship, the financial and brand impact to the airline could be significant if content ends up in the wrong hands.
Security requirements are continuously evolving and can
impact how long a certain DRM is supported for.
Rely on trends in the mainstream M&E market.
More than ever before, the IFEC industry is closer aligned with the mainstream consumer electronic industry. Due to this, we can greatly capitalize on the developments that are driving the major media market. However, the consumer market is much bigger and has different strategic priorities than the IFEC market. Security requirements are continuously evolving and can impact how long a certain DRM is supported for. There are many good DRM service providers in the market that manage DRM variance as their core business. They stay on top off all the changing devices and also develop technical solutions that support new technologies. One of the major factors that is unique to the IFEC market, compared to the consumer market, is the need to support offline key management…which will change as onboard connectivity becomes more common.
At the end of the day, the types of technical solutions we implement as an industry, including DRM, impact our ability to best serve passengers. There is always room to increase efficiency by good planning and automating as much as possible.
John Jezowski is the Managing Director of Cloudcast and leads strategic business development efforts in the Inflight Entertainment Industry. He has a degree in Film and Television from Chapman University and has been distributing content to aircraft for over eighteen years. If you have any questions, please contact John at [email protected].
