ADVERTISING INDUSTRY TARGETS WORLD CUP PIRACY SITES

The digital advertising industry has launched a coordinated campaign to cut advertising revenue to more than 1,300 websites illegally streaming or distributing content from the FIFA World Cup.

Industry body TAG said it had identified 1,376 piracy sites and shared the list with advertisers, agencies and ad tech companies through its Pirate Domain Exclusion List, allowing them to block advertising from appearing on the sites. A further 176 World Cup piracy domains had already been added to the list.

“Global sporting events like the World Cup are prime targets for criminals who try to intercept legitimate ad dollars by stealing popular streaming content,” said Rachel Nyswander Thomas, Chief Operating Officer of TAG. “The TAG AdSec Threat Exchange has created as an early-warning system to identify and block ad revenue to websites that are profiting from stolen content, and this first-of-its-kind initiative allows us to fight those criminals in near-real time by cutting off the flow of ad dollars to the content thieves targeting the World Cup.”

The initiative coincides with the US Department of Justice’s “Operation Offsides”, announced last week, which seized 400 pirate domains. TAG said its effort complements the law enforcement operation by targeting the advertising revenues that help fund illegal streaming services, rather than seizing the domains themselves.

TAG said the campaign is the first time the advertising industry has coordinated near real-time action on this scale to disrupt the commercial model behind online sports piracy.

Source: broadbandtvnews.com