5 Key Legal Issues for a Successful Movie Streaming Site

First of all, is it possible to monetize a movie website?

Yes, you can monetize a movie website, mainly via advertising. A more complex way is to include in-video ads. An alternative way is to place ad slots on your movie websites and make money when people view or click on the ads.

The key is choosing a reliable ad network to serve entertainment-themed ads to your movie-loving audience. Another trick is selecting an ad network that's friendly to iGaming and sports traffic because people who love movies also tend to like sports and play games online. 

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Legal risks to consider for movie streaming websites

Operating a movie streaming website requires threading local and foreign laws, mainly copyright. Let’s dive deeper into some of the major regulations below.

Copyright laws: why is it important?

Copyright refers to intellectual property that gives content owners the right to control the distribution of their content. When someone produces a movie, they get copyright protection for their works. Anyone reproducing or distributing the movie without permission can be sued for copyright infringement. 

Running a movie streaming website requires adhering to strict copyright laws. You need direct or indirect permission to stream someone else’s movie on your website. The exception is when a movie is in the public domain, i.e., not subject to intellectual property laws. Some movie producers willingly put their works in the public domain. Alternatively, movies lose copyright protection and enter the public domain after a long period of existence (it depends on the country, e.g., 120 years for the U.S.).

You can stream public domain movies without legal risks, but streaming copyrighted movies requires permission, or you risk legal liability. PublicDomainMovie.net, Desert Island Films, and the Internet Archive are popular sources for finding and downloading public domain movies.

Showing a movie without a license: Is it possible?

Showing movies on your website requires a license from the owners, except for works in the public domain. Operators of large streaming websites like Netflix and YouTube TV have licenses to stream every movie or live event users watch. Some streaming sites operate without these licenses, instead playing cat and mouse with regulators. For instance, they frequently change domains to counter ISP bans and change corporate entities to avoid lawsuits. However, the law often catches up with illegal streaming sites, leading to fines, bans, and jail time.

• How can I get a license to show a movie? -The good news is that obtaining a license for a movie is straightforward. Swank Motion Pictures and Criterion are the two most popular websites for buying movie licenses, with the price depending on the purpose, location, specific movie, and other factors. They let you buy licenses for thousands of movies and stream them on your website hassle-free. If you don’t find your desired movie, check other licensing websites or contact the copyright owner directly.
  

Local laws: how do they affect movie sites?

Adherence to local laws is critical for movie streaming site operators. For instance, you can obtain a license to stream movies in a specific country but not for other countries. Suppose you obtain a license to stream a movie only in European countries; streaming that movie in Asian countries runs afoul of this license and can bring legal consequences. 

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When obtaining a license, ensure you understand which regions you can stream the movie in. Different regions can have different fees, so this factors into which ones you’ll choose to stream in. Viewers often use VPN services to bypass geographical restrictions, but the movie streaming website isn’t responsible for that, at least if it doesn’t encourage this behavior. 

User agreement: what should you include?

Movie streaming sites have distinct user agreements to set clear legal boundaries around content access. The agreement should ban reproducing, uploading, and transmitting content without permission. Users should recognize intellectual property and avoid using your site as a conduit for illegally downloading or transmitting content. Failure to adhere to this agreement can result in account suspension or termination.

You should play your part by encrypting and preventing root access to licensed content. This way, users cannot distribute your website’s content without permission.

Content protection: how can you protect your own content?

If you create original content for your streaming website, protecting it from piracy is crucial. You can use Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to encrypt the content before streaming, and you can set geographical limits to decide who can access your content. 

Dynamic watermarking is another creative way to protect your content. It involves placing a digital watermark that lets everyone know the rightful owner. This way, you’ll easily discover if someone steals content from your website and uploads it elsewhere.

Source: WonderShare 

What are the consequences of non-compliance with laws?

Non-compliance with copyright and licensing laws can spur serious consequences. For example, internet service providers (ISPs) can block access to your website and sink its traffic. The copyright holder can sue you in court for infringement, and if you are found guilty, a judge can order your site to shut down and pay significant fines. For example, Locast, a streaming website with 3 million users, was ordered to shut down in 2021 after TV networks sued for copyright infringement.

In some cases, law enforcement agencies prosecute copyright violators, with jail time if found guilty. Needless to say, complying with copyright laws is crucial when running a movie streaming website.

Proper monetization of movie streaming sites

You can join a reliable ad network that’ll serve ads to your website audience. This network will give you ad codes to insert at different positions on your website. With these codes inserted, your website visitors will see live ads they can interact with, earning you money for each conversion.

The main monetization challenge lies in content ownership. Who owns the content available on your website, from which you make money? Do you have their permission to stream that content?  If you have permission to stream content, you can monetize properly.

Here is the example of $14,000 earnings from movies websites.  

As you can see, Adsterra offers a profitable way to monetize movie and streaming websites. Here’s why it is a network of choice for many movie websites:

• Adsterra offers high and competitive eCPM rates for movies/streaming websites.
• Adsterra works with many advertisers who offer iGaming and eSports offers that typically have skyrocketing conversions on movie websites.
• Anti-AdBlock feature (for all ad formats) is very handy for streaming websites since many viewers tend to use adblock while watching. 
• Adsterra provides attractive ad formats that overcome ad fatigue. For example, Adsterra’s unique Social Bar uses dynamic iFrames that don't block web content. Moreover, Social Bar looks trendy and engaging: it doesn’t give visual clutter and doesn’t look like aggressive ads.

• Adsterra’s classic Popunder is a must for movie-themed websites for several reasons. You can customize ad frequency and select the pop trigger (under, up, or any website area). Popunder also has a more advanced AdBlock making it the top choice of movies and streaming websites.

Conclusion

Operating a movie streaming website has legal risks, but it’s easy to comply with the required laws and avoid potential consequences. We’ve explained the relevant copyright laws, local laws, and user agreements for movie streaming websites. Following these laws places you on sound footing to build an audience and make money. Adsterra empowers movie website owners to make money by serving relevant entertainment-themed ads, so join our network to boost your earnings today.

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