Dive Brief:
- Facebook has made changes to its Rights Manager that helps protect video content on the platform, most notably automating some actions when matching content is found, per a Facebook news post.
- The changes make it easier for rights owners to manage what happens when matches are found for their content through Automated Match Actions. There are four basic options when Rights Manager finds a match for copyrighted content: blocking the matched content from being viewable on Facebook, claiming ad earnings for matched content that includes an Ad Break, allowing the matched content to be viewable but providing the content owner with video metrics for monitoring and possible different future action, and manual review of matches.
- The update also allows content owners to set match conditions for automated actions including viewer location, content type, match length, publisher type and privacy type.
Dive Insight:
The news post provided an example of how a content owner could combine match conditions with automated match actions: “Using combinations of match actions and conditions, rights owners can use Rights Manager to support their business goals. For example, a rights owner could choose to “Block” all public copies of a matched video in the United States.”
What might be most intriguing is the “claim ad earnings” automated action option. Basically if someone steals content and is running ads on the video through an Ad Break, the content owner can allow the stolen video to continue to be viewable on Facebook and simply claim a share of the earnings on those ads. The monitoring option is also interesting in that content owners again allow the video to remain viewable, but will be provided video metrics on the content.
According to Facebook, the updates were based on what the post described as “consistently” hearing from rights owners that they wanted greater automation and control in Rights Manager. Given the level of detail and control down to specific types of matches, video content rights holders should be pleased with the update.