Irdeto App Watch

Content availability is exploding, and viewers’ appetite for engaging entertainment seems to never end. Super Aggregation is the capability to offer a secure and unified platform/service for your subscribers to access all the content they want. Super aggregation in pay-TV goes far beyond traditional bundling to deliver value-added benefits for viewers including an enhanced experience with personalized recommendations, search & discovery across content and apps, and simplified transactions across services.

Pay-tv operators can now offer the best of both worlds, blending Broadcast and OTT (Over-The-Top) distribution, and providing access to premium content from studios, premium sports, regional content, and the growing plethora of premium apps (e.g. Netflix, Disney +, HBO Max). This way, pay-TV operators strengthen their position in the video entertainment arena and have the opportunity to even expand their growth opportunities beyond video in areas such as IoT, Gaming, and even the Metaverse.

Pay-tv operators are leveraging on open-source platforms to deploy their next generation hybrid video platforms (and pure OTT offerings too). The most popular open-source platforms today are Android TV (supported by Google) and RDK-Video Accelerator (supported by Comcast). Both help operators to fast-track their journey to become super aggregators, offering access to resources, communities, and attractive 3rd party app stores capable to aggregate the operators’ own content together with premium sports, premium studios’ content, and premium apps.

One major difference between the traditional Linux based STBs and the new open-source platforms, is the access to 3rd party app stores. The open app stores give operators instant access to apps from top OTT services like Netflix, YouTube and Disney+ alongside their own premium content. The downside is that they also offer the subscriber access to thousands of potential problematic apps which may offer pirated content or even contain malicious software. This expose both the subscriber and the operator to a range of new risk scenarios, for example phishing, sideloaded playlists and apps, DDoS and data snooping. That is why it is crucial for operators to retain control of their viewers’ usage on the 3rd party app stores.

Irdeto App Watch is an essential service for pay TV operators deploying/managing a hybrid or pure OTT video platform. It offers unmatched visibility and control over subscriber’s usage of 3rd party app stores and leverage the power of data and analytics.

Being developed to meet the specific needs of pay tv operators, Irdeto App Watch covers crucial aspects to manage the usage of 3rd party app stores including security requirements (against piracy and malware threats), consumer insights (to develop new business strategies) and platform performance (to guaranty the quality of service and reduce operational costs), while securing a premium UX and keeping the balance between the operator, Google (for Android TV) and the subscribers’ needs and expectations.

A lightweight Irdeto App Watch software agent gathers anonymous data from each STB about the apps installed, how they are being used and what impact they have on the STB performance. These insights are sent to the operator’s back-end and displayed on online dashboards providing the operator with full access to this data, plus the ability to determine what action should be taken for each app. The operator has a high level of flexibility when deciding whether to show groups of subscribers a warning about an app, block them from installing it, or remove the app from STBs where it’s already installed.

Irdeto App Watch empowers your video platform with a series of powerful capabilities to secure the integrity and performance of your video platform, provide you with high granular control over the usage of the app store, protect your subscribers from malicious apps, collect customer insights to feed your content and marketing strategies, collect data about the performance of your partner ecosystem to secure the best quality of service, and it also helps you to comply with regulations regarding illegal apps or content in specific geographies. If you want to learn more about the benefits of Irdeto App Watch and how it helps enhancing your video platform, please contact us.