When faced with a decision of what DRM vendor to choose, the landscape can prove to be a bit cloudy. While there aren’t many companies to choose from, there are several important things that need to be considered.
Since all DRM vendors offer the same basic products – Microsoft PlayReady, Google Widevine, and Apple FairPlay, the differentiators, can be a bit nuanced.
So, what makes one provider stand out from another?
Below, we have provided our take on the top five things to consider when choosing a DRM provider for your critical review.
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#1 Ecosystem – Do they have a strong ecosystem of products and services to support your deployment with minimal changes to your workflow? Do they offer “in-house” products like packagers and players coupled with a strong partner network? Having these prerequisites go a long way to making your deployment hassle-free.
At BuyDRM, we have the strongest partner program in the industry. Whether you are using an Encoder, Streaming Server, or Player partner, there is a good chance that they are already enrolled in our ESP Partner Program and offer a pre-existing integration to be sure that you get off on the right track.
#2 Scalability – Is your prospective or current DRM vendor aligned to support your projected growth? How many licenses do they deliver daily across their customer base? How about yearly? Are there any limitations on how many requests per second they can support?
BuyDRM delivers more than 80 Million DRM licenses per day on a regular basis and delivered more than 23 BILLION licenses in 2021. We have single deployments supporting more than 100K RPS (Requests Per Second) across the globe.
#3 Support – Most every vendor is going to talk a big game about the support that they provide, but have you tested it? Do they charge extra for premium support? Do they offer dedicated Slack channels for large deployments?
At BuyDRM we are fanatical about support, and we have a team of DRM and video streaming experts, standing by ready to assist. All our customers enjoy premium support at no additional charge. For large deployments, we also offer a dedicated Slack channel, again at no additional cost.
#4 Pricing – When comparing pricing it's important to understand that what a DRM deployment might cost you today, is sometimes less important than what it might cost you in the future. While almost every vendor has a baseline price that is fairly aligned with one another, what happens when your volume increases by 10x, 20x, 100x?
BuyDRM offers plans as small as $99 monthly all the way up to a flat fee for unlimited usage. We also allow our customers to reprice once per year in the case where they are seeing large audiences to scale. Our approach to pricing is flexible, modern, viable, and well-received across the Media & Entertainment, and Technology industries.
#5 Pedigree – Does your prospective or current DRM vendor have a strong pedigree? How long have they been in the video streaming industry? Are they considered experts in their field? What does their customer list look like?
BuyDRM was founded in 2001 and has more than 20 years of experience protecting premium content. With more than 100 years of combined DRM experience, we are proudly considered thought leaders in the streaming video security space. Our customer list is replete with success stories that are showcased in our case studies and press releases and include many of the top names in streaming and broadcasting across the globe. Names like Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Science (Oscars), Tubi TV, FuboTV, EPIX, Rakuten, Redbox, SBS, Sinclair, Zee5, and larger brands that we cannot even mention. BuyDRM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the OVH Group S.A.
As you can see, while DRM vendors offer the same basic service, there is more than meets the eye when it comes to choosing which provider you decide to use. DRM touches nearly every part of the video pipeline so it is important that you make the correct decision – the viability of your project depends on it.
