Applications
Zee, Sony and Disney tech providers NexGuard, Colorfront collaborate to ensure distributors stay ahead of pirates
MUMBAI: NexGuard and Colorfront have released key updates to their joint solution, adding support for multi-layer watermarking workflows and enhanced scalability and automation of forensic watermarking.
NexGuard’s Emmy award-winning solutions are used by content producers, broadcasters, Pay TV operators and OTT providers around the world, including all major Hollywood studios; AMC Networks in the US; iQiyi, the largest Internet and mobile video service provider in China; ZEE TV in India and sports leagues.
NexGuard MD Harrie Tholen will also be speaking at the IBC panel discussion “Protecting media assets and countering cyber threats in the OTT world” on 18 September at Content Everywhere Hub.
NexGuard, a Kudelski company and provider of forensic watermarking technology and solutions, and Colorfront, the Academy and Emmy Award-winning developer of high-performance, on-set dailies and transcoding systems for motion pictures, high-end episodic TV and commercials, released the updates to their joint solution launched in 2016.
NexGuard also works with the majority of the members of the newly founded Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, a new global coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal market for creative content and reducing online piracy.
The joint Colorfront-NexGuard solution protects digital content assets, particularly 4K/UHDTV and High Dynamic Range (HDR), in digital cinema, broadcast, Over-The-Top (OTT) internet entertainment and Video on Demand (VoD) applications.
The solution enables the protection for a vast range of dailies, mezzanine and master deliverables at all stages of the production and post production workflow, whilst also allowing users to track the source of illicit B2B and B2C distribution, particularly of 4K/UHDTV and HDR content.
The joint solution leverages NexGuard’s world-leading forensic watermarking alongside Colorfront Transkoder deployments by major Hollywood studios including Sony Pictures, Disney, Fox, Paramount, Warner Bros. and Universal, and Colorfront On-Set Dailies systems used in the workflows motion picture and high-end episodic TV productions including Blade Runner 2049 (Warner), Atomic Blonde (Universal), Game Of Thrones – Season 7 (HBO), Avengers: Infinity War (Marvel/Disney), Robin Hood: Origins (Lionsgate), Moonlight (A24) and The Revenant (20th Century Fox).
“Security of media assets is a matter Colorfront takes take very seriously. We work closely with our media and entertainment customers to help them find new and better ways to safeguard their content,” says Aron Jaszberenyi, managing director of Colorfront. “Colorfront joined forces with NexGuard in 2016 to integrate their forensic watermarking technology into our On-Set Dailies and Transkoder product. Now, the full integration of the new generation of NexGuard watermarking technology means we are delivering even more advanced content protection tools, to support our clients as they continue the challenge of staying one step ahead of the pirates.”
New for IBC 2017, the solution has been extended to include:
Full integration of the NexGuard Manager with the Colorfront Transkoder: Users of the joint solution can easily scale up their use of forensic watermarking on pre-theatrical and pre-aired content, and store all their NexGuard watermarking job metadata in a centralized database for a 360-degree view of all watermarking activities.
Support for multi-layer watermarking: Up to three levels of NexGuard “G2” watermark layers can be embedded in any given pre-release or pre-aired piece of content by using different watermarking keys, which do not affect the robustness and imperceptibility of the watermarks. This feature enables watermarks to be embedded at the ingest and outgest of post-production workflows.
“Last year, we joined forces with Colorfront to launch a tool that protects content when it is at its most vulnerable – during the production and post-production phase’’ said Tholen. “As the industry becomes more aware of the dangers of piracy for the creative industries, solutions that provide a robust yet simple integration into existing workflows are increasingly essential. The latest additions to our solution provide customers of the combined Colorfront-NexGuard solution, ranging from studios through to post-production companies and distributors, with an even higher level of content protection and full visibility on all watermarking activities to secure prime assets.”
Based on the world’s leading forensic watermark, NexGuard forensic watermarking adds a unique, invisible identifier to video content. The watermark remains with the content, even in the case of transcoding, resizing, downscaling, recording by camcorder or any other alteration before illegal re-distribution.
Applications
Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
