Plex releases new TVOD service supported by castLabs' DRMtoday and Synamedia's ContentArmor forensic watermarking

Plex has recently launched its movie rental service, enabled by the multi-DRM support of castLabs' DRMtoday and Synamedia's ContentArmor forensic watermarking technology, delivering premium, on-demand protected content to a larger audience.

BERLIN and LONDON, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- castLabs, a leading provider of video delivery technology, proudly announced that global media company Plex has opted for castLabs cloud-based DRMtoday for their newly launched transactional video on demand (TVOD) service: Plex Rentals. The collaboration also ensures that Plex's new premium library is securely watermarked using Synamedia's ContentArmor forensic watermarking solution, distributed by castLabs. This strategic move guarantees Plex meets the stringent requirements of content owners for on-demand and FAST content.

DRMtoday provides secure content playback for Plex users across Android, Apple, web browsers, smart TVs, and game consoles. By utilizing DRMtoday's multi-key delivery feature, Plex adheres to the industry's best practices for content protection, generating different keys for variable video renditions, ranging from SD up to UHD. This multi-DRM solution ensures that Plex's offering remains accessible only to authorized users, a non-negotiable condition for content owners.

"Content rights and protection are important to us, and after extensive evaluation, castLabs and DRMToday provide the rights management that our content partners want and deserve," said Shawn Eldridge, Vice President of Business Development and Content for Plex.

Additionally, Plex has integrated Synamedia's ContentArmor forensic watermarking technology through castLabs, an advanced solution designed to protect content, detect content leaks, and protect copyrighted material. The implementation of A/B watermarking, embeds unique, imperceptible watermarks throughout Plex's new movie rental catalog.

"We're thrilled to expand our collaboration with Plex. Our dedication to content security and adherence to studio compliance empowers partners like Plex to rapidly deliver flawless streaming experiences to a wider audience. We understand the challenges associated with meeting licensing requirements, so we are committed to streamlining the process in the most efficient manner through our in-house solutions and together with partners like Synamedia." stated Michael Stattmann, co-founder and managing director of castLabs.

"We're delighted to partner with castLabs to provide the Plex service with the security and content protection solutions demanded by their content licensors" said Alain Durand, Head of Synamedia's ContentArmor business, "we continue to see increased demand from studios who need assurance that their content will be delivered securely and with robust security solutions to identify any potential leaks. We've developed ContentArmor to meet this exact use case with robust watermarking capabilities and rapid ID extraction to ensure direct-to-consumer streaming services can quickly detect compromised accounts and take action."

Plex Rentals has been available to users in the United States since February 7. More information can be found here.

About Plex
Plex is solving the streaming media chaos, making it quick and easy to find, watch, rate, talk about, and recommend any movie or TV show being streamed online, acting as one window into ALL streaming services, including those you subscribe to. Available in over 180 countries and partnering with some of the biggest names in entertainment, Plex is the first and only streaming platform to offer access to free entertainment - including over 50,000 free titles, movies, and TV shows on-demand, premium movie rentals, as well as hundreds of free-to-stream live TV channels spanning virtually all genres, interests, and languages. The company is independently owned and backed by Intercap and Kleiner Perkins. For more, visit https://plex.tv, and follow @plex on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 

About castLabs

castLabs is a leading pioneer of software and cloud services for digital video markets worldwide to easily enable premium content streaming. Their range of applications and services are designed to help businesses deliver high-quality video experiences through protected content playback over a large selection of devices and platforms. castLabs solutions include DRMtoday multi-DRM and CAS licensing, feature-rich PRESTOplay cross-platform players, Video Toolkit cloud encoding and forensic watermarking, Widevine device and app certification, secure WebRTC end-to-end delivery, as well as expert technical consulting. Learn more at castlabs.com.

About Synamedia

We're trusted by service providers and content owners to deliver, enrich, and protect video. The flexibility and agility of our cloud and SaaS products enable customers of all types and sizes to launch, monetise, and scale services at speed. Our award-winning portfolio includes advanced advertising, business analytics, broadband and streaming video platforms, intelligence-led anti-piracy, and video network cloud and software solutions. Synamedia is backed by the Permira funds and Sky.