Residential Proxies for Streaming Platforms and the Role of IP Address Intelligence

Live broadcasting industry is expected to flourish in Europe in the coming years with an expected growth rate of 20.36 % from 2022 until 2027, highlighting the continuous trend of rapid expansion within the industry according to data from Technavio.

While growth is expected to be strong, profits and advertising revenues may face an obstacle, as the direct broadcasting industry faces one of the largest possible threats. Residential agents, similar to VPN networks, is a technique used by consumers to hide their identity and location. Its use is high at a rate that vows at risk. According to the recent results of Digital Element, there was an increase of 188% in the accreditation of residential agents throughout the European Union from January 2023 to January 2024, with an amazing increase of 428% within the United Kingdom alone. During that same time period, the use of VPN, which was already a source of concern for the direct broadcasting industry, escalated 42% in the European Union and 90% in the United Kingdom.

This problem has significant effects on both platforms and their users. Residential agents are inherently a technique to hide identity and are increasingly used to overcome geographical restrictions in order to reach the content that is not available in certain areas. This practice undermines licensing agreements and revenue forms for broadcasting services.

What contributes to the problem more is many individuals who “rent” their IP addresses for agent services. This group does not realize the broader repercussions of its actions because it blurred the separation line between legitimate and illegal access, which increases the difficulty of managing broadcasting platforms. These consumers are often stimulated through compensation provided by the residential agent companies – and it is irony that this is often in the form of gift cards to serve direct broadcasting.

Some may say that an easy solution is simply the ban of all local agents, but for direct broadcast service providers, the answer is not so simple. The prohibition of all the monitoring of a residential agent will also cut the arrival of the legal subscribers, creating a bad user experience for customers who pay. It is necessary to follow a more accurate and enlightened approach in order to protect the rights of honest consumer, while continuing to prevent bad actors.

To effectively fight this, broadcast service providers cannot follow a surface level, they need to enter into weeds and take advantage of tools that will provide a deep understanding of the user’s intentions. To do this, they have to take a look at the root of every web traffic – IP address – then deepening more.

Here comes the role of the IP address. By taking advantage of the sophisticated intelligence of the IP title, broadcasting platforms can get insight into the nature of the traffic it receives. This technology enables them to determine not only whether the IP address is associated with a local agent, but it can also provide contextual evidence to determine the size of the threat and understand its scope. By identifying IP behavior patterns at the level of root, broadcastors can start drafting their strategic approach with regard to getting rid of IP addresses related to residential agents.

Although there is no final solution to eliminate the problem, the IP address provides an important first step. It provides the data needed to understand the extent of the problem and start developing strategies to help alleviate the effect of residential agents. Without these ideas, broadcasting platforms work mainly in the dark, and are unable to distinguish effectively between legitimate and illegal traffic.

If the trend continues to withstand, the use of residential agents will increase and cause greater concern for broadcasting platforms around the world. While the industry seeks to address this problem, the role of IP address will become increasingly important. It is clear that without the ability to determine and understand the traffic source, there is no basis for building an applicable solution. The future of broadcasting depends on the industry’s ability to adapt and respond to these advanced challenges, and the IP address will not be a pivotal role in this continuous effort.

[Editor’s note: This is a contributed article from Digital Element. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]

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