The exact launch date of the ‘BeStreamWise’ anti-piracy campaign is difficult to pin down. Often subject to intense planning and strict media embargoes, we simply stumbled across the live campaign website early October 2023.
The purpose of BeStreamWise is to raise awareness of risk associated with illicit streaming platforms. Specifically, when people subscribe to these types of services they risk fueling organized crime, quite possibly at the same time their bank accounts are being unexpectedly drained.
Whether due to malware or other unspecified vectors, the campaign message is simple: Illegal Streams Let Criminals In.
An Unusual Launch For an Awareness Campaign
The absence of a coordinated media push at launch was a little unusual, especially given the campaign’s heavyweight backing. The following partners were declared at launch (order per official website):
Federation Against Copyright Theft, Intellectual Property Office (UK gov), CrimeStoppers (charity), British Association for Screen Entertainment (home entertainment), Sky (broadcaster), Premier League (football rightsholder), Irish Industry Trust For IP Awareness (IP promotion/education group), ITV (broadcaster).
The main campaign video (above) was uploaded to YouTube on September 12, 2023, and when we spotted it early October, it had already been viewed 484,000 times. At the time of writing, YouTube is reporting an impressive 4.9 million views, a very respectable total for a video of this type. However, with just 17 ‘thumbs up’ and a grand total of zero comments, these YouTube views may have been driven from elsewhere, quite possibly Facebook.
Anecdotal evidence from people who claimed to have seen the campaign in action, feel that BeStreamWise ads may have appeared after they visited pirate sports streaming sites, or after viewing pirate streams on social media. Whatever the mechanism, the campaign seems to have been well targeted.
New Additions to the Campaign Partners List
Sky’s role as the operator of the BeStreamWise campaign has been clear from the beginning. The campaign website’s privacy policy is Sky’s and the website itself is hosted on Sky’s vast infrastructure. The content in focus – illicit broadcasts of Premier League matches – narrows things down quite a lot too. Virgin Media and TNT are notably absent from the main partners list, although both are members of BASE.
The BeStreamWise news section has been updated from time to time since launch, mostly with details of arrests or sentencing of various players in the IPTV ecosystem. Topics that haven’t received any coverage in the news section include developments relating to the theme of the campaign, i.e malware/cyber-security. While there have been no specific announcements concerning new BeStreamWise partners since launch (and still no security vendors whatsoever) logos have appeared periodically on the partners page.
In January 2024, streaming service DAZN was listed as a partner, followed in February by City of London Police (Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit) and the BBC. June saw the addition of GAAGO, the official streaming platform for Gaelic Games outside of Ireland. During the same month, United States media giant Universal joined the campaign. Universal is ultimately owned by Comcast which also owns Sky.
What comes next for BeStreamWise isn’t clear. The campaign is still mentioned fairly regularly by the UK tabloids, usually in connection with various anti-piracy operations involving Sky.
That being said, enthusiasm for churning out dozens of reports each week, at times based on no discernible news or current event, appears to have waned significantly. Whether that’s linked or merely coincidental to the campaign’s first birthday is unknown.
What Happens to the Data?
For many years, the UK’s Intellectual Property Office has produced a highly detailed annual report called the ‘Online copyright infringement tracker.’ The wave 12 report was published in February 2023, so this year’s wave 13 report is already very late; it’s also possible that there are no plans to publish a report this year, which should be viewed as a loss given how detailed the report has become over the years.
What type and volume of data BeStreamWise and partners have been collecting over the past year is yet to be revealed, but it’s likely to be substantial. Whether the data will show any reduction in pirate IPTV consumption is the million-dollar question, but whatever the state of play, the job isn’t over just yet.
Indeed, this particular job, in one form or another, has been a thorn in Sky’s side for several decades. It’s not thinkable that it will remain that way for several more.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
