Hungama has a 'Friend' to fight piracy

Hungama.com has joined hands with UK-based Friend Media Technology Systems (FMTS) to provide solutions to curb piracy.

While Hungama will provide the offering to other Indian media players under its digital services segment, it is simultaneously availing Friend's services to curb piracy on its site.

Currently estimated at Rs 43,700 crore, the Indian entertainment and media industry is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18 per cent over the next five years.

However, segments such as music and video are fighting a tough battle with piracy which is affecting their bottom line. While the number of raids and seizures have been steadily increasing over the past few years, piracy rampantly continues.

Friend Media provides companies with an unique data analysis algorithm solution that monitors a vast array of sources on the Internet "" from peer-to-peer networks to discussion forums and newsgroups.

The solution works at three levels. First, FMTS provides monitoring services or identification of the seeding point (starting point). Two, removing the content from the site and sending infringement notices to the people concerned; and third, using the data in a positive way to understand how specific content is being accepted.

"We are not providing a counter measure service for piracy. What we are providing is a targeted service, especially for those who are seeding the content," says Jonathan Friend, director, engineering, FMTS.

The company claims to monitor and identify the content's source, people who are responsible for doing so and those who download the same. It monitors blog sites, chat rooms and all possible popular sites.

Neeraj Roy, CEO, Hungama.com feels the Indian industry is ready for such a mechanism, especially players like themselves who have a large repository of original content and exclusive tie-ups for content sharing in the web world. Roy stated that within a year, 50 per cent of the market should be using this service.

The services will be targeted at studios and broadcasters. Roy feels the India broadcasting community will be a big segment for these services.

"Broadcasting houses provide us with content to be made available on the portal. While this is done just a few minutes before the series hits the televisions. If somebody shares this well in advance, the production house could have huge losses," explains Roy.

With all new channels being targeted at all the possible paltforms, tracking where the content's path and who is using it will be crucial.

As for Hungama, the company will start the implemetation in phases. "The first phase will cover the music and video segment,' said Roy. He also plans to take the services on the mobile platform.

"Initially, this will only cover the online segment. The mobile segment, however, is not far off. We have close to 45 million people using the Interent on mobiles. As we move ahead, we will also target other platfroms," added Roy.