(DENVER) July 18, 2023 — The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) today announced significant piracy takedown success for the Indian Premier League (“IPL”) 2023 tournament. IBCAP’s monitoring and protection efforts played an instrumental role in mitigating the piracy of live cricket matches not only in IBCAP member markets, such as the United States, Canada, Europe, and MENA, but also worldwide.
IBCAP’s monitoring and takedown program was in full force for the duration of the tournament, with staffing in India and the U.S. enabling real-time disruption of live matches. Takedowns were sent on behalf of IBCAP members Willow and Cricbuzz, and efforts focused on set-top boxes and IPTV services, web linear, social media, and mobile applications. The team was able to disrupt nearly 9,000 streams over the course of the tournament, with more than 3.6 million views being disrupted on Facebook Live streams. The IBCAP team achieved an impressive 100% takedown rate for social media and mobile applications, constituting a significant portion of the infringing content.
The impact of early and frequent takedowns throughout the IPL 2023 tournament undoubtedly led to frustration for pirates, increased legal viewership of the matches by consumers, and resulted in the acquisition of new paying customers for IBCAP members. The data once again shows that early action and consistent takedowns, particularly for cricket tournaments and other live sports coverage, result in a poor experience for users of pirate services and cause many of those users to switch to legal providers.
“Willow TV has been a member of IBCAP for over eight years, and we are very pleased with the coalition’s impact in mitigating piracy of major cricket tournaments such as the IPL,” said Todd Myers, COO of Willow TV. “We appreciate that IBCAP puts together a customized strategy for each tournament, and their results, which include this season’s IPL tournament, are a testament to their commitment to containing cricket piracy. Their automated monitoring and takedown tools are highly efficient and effective.”
“We are highly impressed by IBCAP’s monitoring capabilities in Europe and the Middle East. Their methods and tools are effective, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with them in the fight against piracy,” said Chintan Udani, Product and Business Lead for Cricbuzz.
“Our ability to provide the resources and expertise needed to handle a tournament with a global reach as large as the IPL is further proof of our focus on automated monitoring and takedown tools, combined with the expertise of our IBCAP lab and legal teams,” said Chris Kuelling, executive director of IBCAP. “The results announced today significantly benefit our members as it encouraged consumers to turn to legitimate sources to view their favorite sports matches and games. Paying for and viewing illegal streaming services is just not worth the risk.”
For more information about IBCAP membership and its benefits, visit https://www.ibcap.org/membership.
About IBCAP
International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy, Inc. (IBCAP) is a coalition of leading international and U.S. content owners, broadcasters and distributors representing more than 170 television channels from the U.S. and around the world. As the largest anti-piracy organization focused on illicit services offering multicultural content, the non-profit organization proactively monitors and identifies unauthorized video services, collects evidence and assists with legal actions and criminal investigations against organizations and individuals engaging in pirate activities. IBCAP coordinates with government agencies and law enforcement both in the U.S. and abroad, reports suspected infringers to the appropriate authorities, initiates investigations and promotes the prosecution of persons or companies who participate in the illegal distribution of its members’ video content. More information is available at www.IBCAP.org. Follow us on LinkedIn.
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