DRM changes on web browsers what impact for your business?

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1 DRM changes on web browsers what impact for your business? December 2014 Google recently ceased support for Silverlight plugin on Chrome on Mac, impacting all viewers of PlayReady protected content on that platform. Irdeto believes this is a trend that will continue and will require any OTT service provider or operator to urgently review their operations to avoid negative impact on their business

2 Executive Summary DRM Changes & OTT Impact DRM Plugins are being phased out. Chrome, with the lion s share of the desktop browser market, will stop supporting the Silverlight plugin. For viewers on the Apple Mac platform the plugin was disabled in November and PC viewers will be affected from January Are your customers now unable to watch protected video content they are entitled to? Are they blaming what they believe to be your poor service or do they understand that they need to change browser? The recent Chrome update is only the beginning of a series of changes to DRM support on web browsers. All the browser vendors are moving to embed a specific DRM technology on each of their web platforms. This means that any OTT service viewed on a PC, Mac or the browser of any CE device will need to support multiple DRMs in order to ensure that all viewers can playback the content. So this is just the start of an industry-wide evolution. Things are going to become more complex. A single DRM for your OTT service will no longer be sufficient to reach multiple platforms. But as the different DRM technologies are becoming increasingly device- and browser-specific, the impact will not be limited to DRM selection alone. OTT service providers and operators need to consider their current business, operational infrastructure and future requirements in their selection of DRM technology, with impact on content packaging and choice of HTML5 player. Irdeto s experience with a wide range of different customer OTT deployments worldwide leveraging the modular, technology-agnostic Rights set of solutions has given us a unique perspective to provide insight into the current industry evolution; highlighting some of the issues facing OTT service providers and offer recommendations. Irdeto 2014 Page 1

3 What you need to know On November 18 th, 2014 Google released a new version of Chrome that no longer supports Silverlight on the Apple Mac platform. Silverlight is the plugin that is used to allow playback of PlayReady protected content. And in the next release, which is planned for January 21 st, 2015, the long standing Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI) interface will be disabled by default on PCs. Why is this a big deal? This means that any viewers using Chrome will no longer be able to access PlayReady protected content. And with Chrome having the lion s share of the desktop browser market (between 30% and 50% depending on the region), that is a lot of unhappy viewers. And they will probably blame their service provider. At best, your viewers will understand that they need to change browser, at worst you will lose them as a customer. At Irdeto, we believe that this is the beginning of an industry-wide evolution. Things are going to become more complex and fragmented. Offering an OTT service with a single DRM will be a thing of the past. The different DRM technologies will become increasingly device- and browser-specific, requiring a true multi-drm strategy for your OTT business. At best, your viewers will understand that they need to change browser, at worst you will lose them as a customer As this fragmentation continues, managing multiple DRMs, devices and browsers will become increasingly difficult. Operators will need to ensure they either have the resources internally or a partner that can provide a multi-drm platform designed to remove all that complexity. This challenge extends beyond just multi-drm to both the head end and client side. How the market is changing EVOLUTION OF WEB BROWSERS As the industry moves to HTML5 web browsers that can play DRM-protected content, the need for plugins such as Silverlight, Adobe Flash or Widevine Plugin are progressively being eliminated. This is generally seen as positive, providing improved speed, stability and security. As plugins have been widely considered an easy entry-point for hackers, the protection of premium content will be enhanced on HTML5 platforms. The installation and update of plugins provide a poor user experience and can even incur operator costs in customer support. All in fairness, plugins will probably not be missed from the viewer experience. A COMMON APPROACH With the move to HTML5, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has taken the first steps to establish a common approach. On HTML5 browsers, the W3C has specified the use of Encryption Media Extensions (EME) as part of the HTML5 set of specifications. With HTML5 browsers, EME is simply an interface that allows an HTML5 application to access Content Decryption Modules (CDMs). The CDM is where the DRM functionality is implemented and is responsible for decrypting DRM-protected content (see figure 1 below). Support for EME and CDMs has already been deployed by Chrome, Internet Explorer 11+ (Windows 8.1) and Safari (OSX Yosemite), while others, such as Firefox, are expected to support these standards from early Irdeto 2014 Page 2

4 Figure 1 - Evolution of DRM support on web browsers FRAGMENTATION OF DRM SUPPORT However, this does not mean standards cover everything. The main browser vendors also happen to be some of the main DRM technology providers. This is where it starts to become complicated; each browser vendor has implemented a specific DRM (usually their own proprietary one) directly within their own browser. This has led to a highly fragmented market, as shown below: Figure 2: Web browser to DRM matrix Browser (version) / CDM-DRM Adobe PrimeTime FairPlay Marlin PlayReady Widevine Internet Explorer (11+) Yes Safari (OSX Yosemite) Yes 1 Firefox Yes Yes Chrome (35+) Yes WHAT THIS MEANS As web browser vendors implement a specific CDM-DRM technology in their platforms and at the same time phase out support for other DRM plugins, viewers will no longer be able to watch content that is protected with a DRM technology different to the one embedded in their browser. To reach the different browsers of their end users, content providers will have to ensure that every content item is made available to viewers using all of the main DRM formats. HOW COMMON ENCRYPTION SHOULD HELP In order to maximize device reach irrespective of DRM support, the DASH Forum has added support for common encryption (CENC) to the DASH standard. In essence, a common key can be delivered wrapped in whatever DRM the client device supports. Beyond enabling reach to a wide range of devices, CENC will also reduce costs associated with content preparation and delivery. 1 Source JWPlayer blog Apple has not publicly declared support for FairPlay in Safari Irdeto 2014 Page 3

5 The CENC approach allows for the use of proprietary DRMs, but leverages a common key to allow content providers to encrypt and package their content just once. The content can then be played back on a variety of clients, which all support different DRMs. In addition to reducing the need for multiple content packagers, it will also reduce the need for CDN storage as only one version of each content item is required. Before DASH and CENC, content providers needed to store multiple versions of the same content - one for each streaming format (and associated DRM technology). Figure 3 - Overview of OTT content distribution & licensing How this will affect OTT service providers NEED FOR HTML5 PLAYERS AND MORE This affects OTT service providers in two ways. Firstly, the need to support HTML5 JavaScript video players (on legacy browsers, plugins will still be used) and secondly, the impact on their wider video delivery ecosystem. Content distributors and operators delivering video services to PC or Mac via browser plugins will need to support HTML5 JavaScript video players on browsers in order to allow their customers to play protected content. However, the impact is much greater than that affecting the players. This change will affect several components and functions of the overall video delivery ecosystem, including: Support for multi-drm: Given the browser market fragmentation, operators need to have a multi-drm strategy to address the DRM fragmentation across web browsers. Migration path: Operators will need to support legacy DRMs and delivery systems (e.g. for connected TV s, older browser versions and devices) for a period of years in the coming future. DASH packaging with support for CENC (common encryption): Operators will need to upgrade their content packagers to support DASH and CENC, or source new ones. Packagers need to be integrated with multi-drm, CENC-capable Key Management Systems. JavaScript video player that runs on HTML5 browsers: In order to leverage HTML5 MSE and EME extensions to play protected content on browsers, operators will also need to support and deploy JavaScript DASH players. Irdeto 2014 Page 4

6 Irdeto recommendations To remain in step with the industry-wide evolution, Irdeto recommends that operators and service providers make a full analysis of their current business, their operational infrastructure and their future needs. There are different considerations for the DRM selection, packaging and player. Evaluate the different DRM technologies that will be needed to reach their current and future target platforms Multi-DRM support will be required to reach different platforms, such as support for PlayReady, Widevine Modular, Adobe Access and Marlin. A truly DRMagnostic platform should also support DASH/CENC in the server head-end. It should provide a rich set of features and APIs that will enable operators and service providers to quickly deploy and support new devices, irrespective of any implementation specificities or the DRM that the device supports. Furthermore, it is important to leverage DRM-neutral APIs to ensure easy roll-out of devices and applications without having to deploy, operate and integrate multiple different backend systems. This is important when it comes to reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) and ensuring quick time to market. It is also essential to think beyond just multi-drm. Having a solution that abstracts the DRM functionality from all the other capabilities and can manage entitlements, business policies, devices, stream concurrency and fraud management across multiple DRMs will significantly reduce complexity across video ecosystem and lower overall costs. As an example, the limitation set by studios on the number of devices allowed to view a specific title; if some of the viewer s devices have integrated PlayReady and others Adobe, it becomes necessary to manage these business rules transparently of the DRMs. For packaging, operators will need to look into upgrading their packaging infrastructure to support HTML5 players (DASH & HLS) and CENC. If their selected vendors do not support DASH/CENC, an alternative option is a Unified Streaming software packager, which, at Irdeto has been pre-integrated as an OEM with the Rights server. This field-proven solution is a very low-cost, effective alternative to more established commercial encoder/packager offers. On the client side, operators will need to evaluate what is the best combination for their specific target user base to deliver a high quality, consistent user experience. The player is the window onto your content and its quality is essential. Irdeto has evaluated all the options for HTML5 and legacy playback and can help you select between the (many) open source and commercial options available to ensure your packaging formats/profiles are fully supported and deliver the expected viewing experience. Irdeto 2014 Page 5