Synamedia strengthens video security with acquisition of ContentArmor

Synamedia has acquired ContentArmor, a developer of forensic watermarking solutions for the media and entertainment industry. The addition of ContentArmor’s technology, patents and expertise to its portfolio of security offerings, including its EverGuard anti-piracy services, will enable Synamedia to meet its clients’ demand for future-proof edge and 5G security requirements. 

Moreover, the acquisition enhances Synamedia’s anti-piracy capabilities for movie studios and sports rights holders, across both over-the-top (OTT) and direct-to-consumer (D2C) services. It will also extend Synamedia’s reach into new markets including post-production, in-flight entertainment, and enterprise video. 

Following the acquisition, Alain Durand, CEO at ContentArmor, will join Synamedia’s senior leadership team to help shape its security roadmap. He commented, “While head-end watermarking is now at the heart of any studio or service provider’s security requirements, we are primed for the future with our edge watermarking solution. By combining our technology with Synamedia’s intelligence-led security offerings, service providers can futureproof their revenues from the menace of piracy.” 

Edge watermarking is said to be a “secure and scalable” approach in detecting and disrupting content leaks. As such, Synamedia anticipates “a substantial market opportunity” for this, particularly to stream premium content over 5G. 

ContentArmor’s edge watermarking technology reduces storage and content delivery network (CDN) bandwidth requirements by eliminating the need to duplicate video streams. It improves cache performance and speeds the process of embedding the watermarks, while reducing risk by performing security-critical operations in the network. 

Paul Segre, CEO for Synamedia, said, “This acquisition further accelerates our security business, with edge watermarking fuelling new opportunities in the D2C streaming space and for 5G.

“In the security domain, our clear objective is to meet the needs of all video service providers that care about anti-piracy — and the acquisition of ContentArmor strengthens that proposition.”