Piracy hindering growth of over-the-top content services in region

Dubai: Piracy still remains a major problem in this region for Over-the-top (OTT) content services and that will hinder growth, industry experts have warned.

Ali Ajouz, managing partner at Sawa Media, said that international OTT services such as BBC iPlayer, Netflix, Vudu, Hulu and HBO are sold across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region through virtual private networks.

“Piracy is a big issue but we have seen improvements this year. BeIN sports has moved to secure platform in June and Broadcast Satellite Antipiracy Coalition now has 18 members from the region,” said Christophe Firth, senior manager at the management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.

He said the “cat and mouse game” will go on, adding that one way to fight the scourge is by making pricing affordable and flexible. “We have to see more of these [approaches] in this region,” he said.

Ajouz called on government authorities to actively fight piracy.