Password Protected Live Streaming: What You Need to Know in 2024

Online videos have become a vital medium for communication, entertainment, and information sharing. Ensuring the security of these videos, especially when live streaming, is critical. Password-protected live streams offer a reliable solution for enhancing video and live streaming security. By requiring a password from viewers (and not the same password for each video), broadcasters can control who has access to their streams. Password-protected videos like these offer a strong layer of protection, safeguarding sensitive content and maintaining the integrity of live streaming platforms. 

This post shows you how to set up password-protected video hosting and live streaming. We’ll explain why password-protected videos are crucial for broadcasters and content creators. We’ll also discuss the relationship between password protection and monetization and explore alternative privacy and security features. By the end, you’ll have a firm grasp of the importance and use of password-protected videos plus you’ll know how Dacast can enhance your video security.

Table of Contents

• What is Password-Protected Streaming?
• Uses of a Password-Protected Live Stream
• How Do I Password-Protect My Event?
• How to Add a Password to Videos on Dacast
• The Best Way to Password-Protect a Live Event
• How to Choose a Password
  • Where to Embed Live Streams
  • How to Manage Passwords
• Video Monetization vs. Password Protection
• Other Common Video Privacy and Security Measures
• The Importance of Video Security in 2024
• The Problem of Video Piracy
• The UFC and Video Piracy Example
• Complementing Password Protection with Other Features
• Conclusion

What is Password Protected Streaming?

Password-protected streaming is used to broadcast content to a select audience.

You can password-protect video content behind a prompt that requires a password to access the content. With password-protected live streaming, the viewer has to have a valid login provided by the content owner.

With the Dacast, this password is generated by the broadcasters themselves. That way, you can create your own. Since you’re developing this password independently, keeping a secure credentials record is essential.

Uses of a Password-Protected Live Stream

A password-protected streaming service offers several valuable features for online video delivery.

There are a variety of reasons why you choose to use password-protected streaming.

Password-protected videos can be crucial in business and other professional contexts, significantly since the business industry has increased its video usage at an annual rate of 50% in recent years.

Given this trend, training material and sales messages must remain secure and accessible only by qualified or approved people.

There is also a great need for protecting live streams with a password in the online education and medical fields. Chances are you broadcast sensitive material for private internal viewing alongside your public material. Password-protected video streaming might be the way to go if that’s the case.

You can also use private streaming apps. By setting up password-protected live streams on your app, you give your viewers an extra layer of security and aid their confidence in being able to view your private live streams remotely and on the go.

Password protection is also excellent for video hosting of live and hybrid events. Whether hosting a webinar or streaming a concert, a password offers another layer of online security to ward off people not on your list for virtual event admission.

Password-protected live streaming via your Dacast account can significantly increase the security of your content. Here at Dacast, we are committed to offering high-level security features to our broadcasters.

Let’s look at how this feature works with your Dacast account.

How Do I Password-Protect My Event?

You’ll need to invest in a live streaming service with password-protection security features to password-protect your live event. Unfortunately, free services, like DailyMotion and YouTube videos, don’t have these tools.

Most professional video hosting platforms have some privacy and security tools, but uploading a YouTube video won’t cut it if you want to password-protect your event. Instead, you’ll need to choose an online video platform with that offering specifically.

Dacast offers password-protected hosting with all plans. Livestream, Vidyard, Brightcove, and other streaming solutions also support password-protected live streaming but only sometimes on all of their plans.

The specific steps for creating a password-protected broadcast vary from platform to platform

How to Add a Password to Videos on Dacast

As we mentioned, Dacast is one of the live streaming services with the tools to password-protect both live video and on-demand content.

To get started, sign in to your Dacast account. From there, navigate to the “Publish Settings” tab and upload the video of your choice:

When turned “On,” a field populates, enabling you to enter a password. That’s the password your viewers will enter to access your video content:

When you finish this step, please ensure you click the “Save” button in the lower-left corner.

You can password-protect your playlists as you do with an individual live channel or video files. To do so, choose a playlist and go to the “Publish Settings” tab just as you would for a particular content. Then click save as, turn password protection “On” and enter a password when prompted.

Once you enter the password, the viewer gains access to the playlist. They can then watch whatever content is currently playing.

Please note that this feature does not currently work for packages, unfortunately. For example, if you add content to a package with a password enabled, the package will ignore the password and allow the content to play.

You can also disable password protection anytime by toggling the feature from “On” to “Off.”

The Best Way to Password-Protect a Live Event

Remember a few things to get the most out of password-protected video content and live streaming. First, it’s essential to understand where to embed your password-protected streams, how to manage passwords, and even how to choose a password for your live stream.

Let’s quickly break down these elements.

How to Choose a Password for Your Live Event

You choose and use passwords daily for your password-protected video content on various accounts and subscriptions, intending to keep others out. However, when your live event stream is password-protected, it is slightly different because the goal is not to keep everybody out.

The first thing to remember as you choose your password is that it should not be similar to any login credentials you use for other sites, such as your YouTube channel. Also, don’t include personal or internal information because this password will be shared with your audience.

If it’s an event with 10,000 people, you’ll want to stay on the primary side so that people can remember the correct password. A single-word password will suffice.

However, suppose you’re sharing a video with sensitive content only meant to reach a select group. In that case, make the password more complex with a mix of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.

Where to Embed Password-Protected Streams

Dacast allows you to embed your password-protected stream just about everywhere.

Unlike a YouTube video, with Dacast, you can stream live video on your website by embedding password-protected videos using the video.JS or iframe embed code.

You can find these codes in “Publish Settings” on the content. Next, navigate to “Embedded Player Codes” and choose the one you want to use. You can embed the link to the player anywhere, including your app, website, or social media platforms.

You can also privately share videos via password-protected live streaming and on-demand content via Twitter. Viewers can then click the tweet for an expanded view. At this point, they need to enter a password before gaining access to your content.

Please note, right now password protected streams do not work on Facebook. We are working to add this as a feature. First, however, we need a projection for when it might be available.

How to Manage Passwords

Have you Googled your video and the password and found it posted on a forum? Unfortunately, password sharing has been a problem since broadband internet made it easy to distribute these openly.

If this happens with your content, you can log into your Dacast account and replace the old password with a new one. That re-secures the content and kicks out any unqualified viewers on your password-protected live stream and on-demand content.

You can do this like you created the initial password under the “Publish Settings” on your content.

Video Monetization vs. Password Protection

When streaming on Dacast, you cannot enable the password protection function on monetized videos.

Rather than protecting your monetized video with a password, you’ll typically keep it safe behind a video paywall. Technically, the viewer will have to enter a password to view the stream after they’ve paid for access, but this will be their login credentials rather than a password you create as a broadcaster.

The paywall is used for both subscription and pay-per-view streaming. However, ad-based video monetization doesn’t use the paywall.

Other Common Video Privacy and Security Measures

Password-protected streaming is just the beginning in terms of online video security measures.

When it comes to broadcasting live video streams, the most significant online security risk entails a third party who records and redistributes your content without your permission. The same goes for on-demand video content.

These days, many live streaming platforms strive to prevent just this through heightened security on their streaming content. This security ranges from the complex to the mundane, given that content is streamed and accessed via progressive download methods.

Password-protected video content and streams are simply the first lines of defense between your video and viewers without clearance. Dacast offers quite a few privacy and security measures.

Some of these features include:

·         AES Encryption

·         Domain and Geo-Restrictions

·         HTTPS video delivery

·         Dynamic Token Security

·         Live stream monitoring

·         SSL/TLS Encrypted Paywall for Payments Security

These measures will keep your video content safe and sensitive information out of the wrong hands.

The Importance of Video Security in 2024

Today, as digital content continues to dominate the media landscape, video security is more important than ever. Protecting video content from unauthorized access and distribution is paramount to anyone wanting to maintain the integrity and profitability of their enterprise. 

One effective measure is using password-protected streaming videos. By requiring viewers to enter a password, broadcasters and content creators can control who can access their streams. This method prevents unauthorized distribution and protects sensitive information and intellectual property. 

As cyber threats evolve, strong and secure video security practices such as password-protected streaming videos are vital for safeguarding digital assets, maintaining user trust, and supporting financial stability.

The Problem of Video Piracy in 2024

Video piracy remains a significant challenge in 2024. For content creators and the entertainment industry, it poses a serious threat. Despite advancements in digital security, the illegal distribution of copyrighted material continues to occur. 

According to a recent report, the global cost of piracy is projected to exceed $67 billion. This highlights the heavy impact of unauthorized streaming and downloading on revenue streams. Pirated videos hurt the financial stability of production companies and content creators. It reduces their ability to invest in new content. Also, the consumers who access pirated online videos face security risks, too. Video piracy sites often lead to malware and data breaches. 

To combat video piracy, robust technological solutions and increased awareness are required. These help mitigate risk, protect intellectual property, and sustain the creative industry.

The UFC and Video Piracy Example

Many live streams can be sold at a premium value because they are exclusive. One of the best examples to illustrate this is pay-per-view fighting matches. Consider the big McGregor vs. Khabib fights if you’re into sports.

Because these exclusive events come with premium prices, more and more viewers are likely to look for alternatives. Last year, the UFC lost a lot of money from people streaming their big flights without permission. In fact, according to the same report, the UFC alone loses about $30 million in profits annually.

In other words, if the stream can be easily shared with those who still need to buy access, there’s a lot of money to be lost.

Complementing Password Protection with Other Features

Make a strong password by combining uppercase and lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.

Currently, there are no ways to 100% ensure video privacy and security. But there are many ways to drastically reduce the possibility and make yourself a more challenging target for those with bad intentions.

Nowadays, it’s gotten easier to steal and distribute content without permission using many readily available software on the Internet. That’s especially true for YouTube videos or live streams on any free hosting platform like YouTube.

Consider professional streaming platforms to protect your streams from maximizing profits and protecting sensitive information. Unlike a YouTube video, these platforms generally offer many features to watch your videos. In addition to using professional platforms, it’s also super important to learn about all the security features available today because only some professional platforms offer the same features.

Adding password-protected videos to your streams is a great way to start, but your video privacy and security attempts should continue. Creating password-protected video content is your first defense against unauthorized users accessing your live streams. Now let’s dive a bit deeper into the other security features available to you in 2024 for safe password-protected video sharing.

AES Encryption

AES video encryption ensures that your video content isn’t accessed in the wrong locations or by people who shouldn’t have access to it. It only allows those accessing the right website to see the specific video correctly.

If the video is accessed in the wrong place, all they can see is a useless string of characters. In other words, a viewer or hacker needs the proper encryption key to watch or distribute the specific video.

AES Encryption is another security feature available on Dacast.

Domain and Geo-Restrictions

Domain and geo-restrictions add another layer of protection against your videos’ illegal viewing and distribution.

Domain restrictions let you control where others can embed your video player. If you’re familiar with YouTube videos, you know how easy it is to embed them onto any online video platform or web page. Unfortunately, professional platforms offer domain restrictions feature.

With a domain restrictions feature, you can limit the sites where your video can be embedded. For example, you can only white-list pages within your site. That way, the video player will not work when embedded on any other website.

Geo-restrictions follow a similar concept, but instead of white-listing or black-listing domains, you can white-list and black-list physical locations like countries.

In addition to password protection for multiple videos, domain and geo-restrictions are also available in Dacast.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Once your live streams finish, you’ll probably want to save the video for future re-use and as on-demand content. DRM protects your on-demand content from screen recording and ripping (when someone grabs video chunks from the network).

In addition to AES encryption, paywalls, and password-protected video sharing, DRM adds another layer against competitors and others with bad intentions.

DRM is now available on Dacast as well.

Watermarking

Although watermarking doesn’t necessarily make it harder to steal or redistribute your live streams, it makes it easier to make sure you get some credit for your hard work. If you’re unfamiliar with the term watermarking, it’s when you embed something like a logo or company name on the graphics of the video. That way, if it’s shared without permission, your logo or company name will also be shared.

Watermarking is getting more sophisticated for video hosting; you can even watermark the audio nowadays. Also, a concept called forensic watermarking is making it easier to track down the source of where your live stream was initially unlawfully shared.

Conclusion

As we’ve outlined, password protection for live streaming is vital today, and trends give reason to believe that it’ll become even more important in the future. We highly recommend password-protected live streaming for broadcasters and viewers alike.

Protect your online video content. Prevent unauthorized sharing and worse. With Dacast’s professional video hosting platform and streaming solution, password-protecting your video and live streams is easy. Get secure video hosting with advanced features and dedicated 24/7 support should you ever need it with Dacast.

You can try Dacast and all its features free for 14 days starting today.

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