How OTT Giants Handle Global Video Compliance

The global OTT audience is growing at lightning speed. Today, thanks to multilingual translational content delivery, streaming services are reaching every corner of the world, and people are gaining access to international content like never before. The greatest part of the OTT industry today, for the various stakeholders, is that with the right content distribution and production strategies, they can simply reach all over the world. A regional show like Money Heist now has the power to become the most-streamed show in the world.While this gives power to the distributors, it also adds a major challenge, which is video compliance.

Now every country has its own set of rules and regulations when it comes to what its citizens can watch. For platforms, failing to meet these requirements can result in takedowns, penalties, or even loss of market access. This is the reason why compliance is not just a legal requirement but a business necessity. In this blog, we will talk about how OTT giants solve the compliance issues and provide you with solutions that can help you stay compliant across all areas where you operate.

Video compliance, in simple words, simply means the careful implementation of laws and content guidelines issued by regions. It involves thorough checks to ensure the content does not violate any cultural sensitivities in the regions where the content is distributed.

Compliance covers a fairly broad range of elements, which are often tested and verified while determining the compliance status of a particular content. Some of the video compliance parameters are as follows:

Depending on the local laws and regulations, content can have restrictions for specific age groups like 7+, 13+, 18+, and more. This restriction likely depends on the extent of nudity, violence, hate speech, use of language, etc. Assigning age-based ratings like G, PG-13, R in the U.S., or U/A, A in India becomes a necessity.

Based on the type of content, there can be restrictions. For example, a country may not allow depiction of drug use or religiously sensitive material, or politically sensitive narratives. Video compliance ensures the right content flows and laws are followed.

Certain titles are banned in regions as per their internal laws. For example, a show that is available in the US might not be allowed to stream in the UAE. Video compliance teams work around the clock to ensure that rules are followed and geo block is effectively applied..

Adhering to data privacy laws such as GDPR (Europe), COPPA (U.S.), and new data privacy laws like India’s DPDP Act 2023 is also necessary to stream content and, therefore, becomes an integral part of compliance.

In short, compliance ensures that OTT platforms operate legally, ethically, and responsibly across all geographies. Video compliance is the gateway to doing a profitable OTT streaming business across global markets.

Let’s take an example of an imaginary show released by your most popular OTT platform in t