LONDON -- In advance of CES 2019, Synamedia, the largest independent video software provider, today 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.

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.

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.

Synamedia