Geo-blocking is used to block the content in specific locations or allow streaming. For example, you can’t access the Tiktok website in India even though your internet connection is excellent. Tiktok geo-block restricts anybody from India, so you can’t access their website. Netflix, Hulu, and Disney, plus restrictions, all restrict specific movies and TV shows based on geolocation.
What Geo blocking Means?
Geo-blocking blocks the users from streaming your content based on the user’s internet protocol address. Geo-block is open by user location or channel basis; this feature is called geo-filtering. Geo-blocking or geo-restriction exists for two reasons, licensing agreements and internet censorship.
Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Netflix license their content to stream online. This license agreement gives the exact country in the world where they flow the content. When you log onto any streaming service, your mobile, computer, or tablet gives away your location, and the content you searched for can be blocked or restricted on that location because of those license streaming agreements they have.
Other platforms can provide you with content without restriction, but they charge more subscription fees to reach a global audience. But platforms like Netflix, Amazon prime, and Hulu believe that not all movies or shows perform well in every country, and they don’t want to pay when the content does not reach the audience. They provide the range in a place where demand for that content and rights for it.
How Does Geo blocking Work?
Geo-blocking has a Geo-filtering tool that provides two modes, allowlist, and blocklist. Safelist enables viewing from the list of countries you selected so that viewers from other countries are out of use from watching. This option suits where you have copyrights in only a few countries. A blocklist is to block or restrict viewing from selected countries so that users who are outside these countries have access to watch the content. This option helps you in this situation when the admin can’t allow your content in their country, or you can’t get proper impact for that content.
Users from the blocklist and those from the allowlist are attempting to view your content. It will immediately prevent them from watching. “This content is not available in your location,” this message will be displayed to blocklist users.
Examples of geo blocking
Geo-blocking is the process of blocking access to a website depending on the location of the viewer. It is commonly seen on streaming sites such as Netflix or Amazon Prime and also used by a number of other websites which may contain copyrighted content. In some cases, geo-blocking can even be applied to other sites or entire countries.
Netflix
Netflix is among the most popular streaming services in the world, with 190+ countries taking part. Although some of the differences are due to local content availability, much of it has to do with licensing agreements that Netflix has with copyright holders in each country. This means that an episode or movie available on US Netflix may not be allowed to legally stream on Netflix in France.
Amazon Prime
Amazon Prime is a subscription service that blocks certain media based on your geographic location. This includes not only streaming TV and movies but also digital content such as ebooks, software, audiobooks, games, and more. To prevent access to these services from unauthorized locations, Amazon Prime utilizes geo-blocking and can also block known VPN IP addresses.
Applications Of Geo blocking
On Sports case:
While streaming a sports event, you can’t cover all the participating countries, and this may be due to your platform not being famous or available in all countries. In that case, geo-blocking can block the content in certain countries. For example, the cricket match between India and Australia will be. Still, your platform is not popular in Australia, so you can get the copyrights for India from BCCI, and using the geo-blocking filter, you can allow users who are only from India.
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Media and entertaining case:
Regarding media, content may appeal to certain countries or be available in a minor language widely spoken worldwide. In some countries, the content you provide may violate OTT regulations.
You are allowed to stream in certain counties. In this case, geo-blocking blocks or lets users view your content based on location.
Webnexs provides the most customizable geo-blocking feature where you can block the entire website and apps, block the individual content, allowlist countries, blocklist countries, etc.
For the copyrights issue and don’t hold geographic distribution licenses, securing the personal content helps you block that specific content in a country or region.
There are many reasons you don’t want to share your content on a global level simultaneously. Some of the reasons are
- You would provide the content to the target market and set of audience,
- Don’t get more burden by providing unnecessary bandwidth and also
- You can restrict your content to users who are all beyond your company’s geography.
As a solution for the above reasons, Webnexs provides the best geo-blocking feature and gives you an excellent opportunity to lead your competitor platforms. By using the cloud-based technology, you can provide the geo-restriction on events, and also, you can remove the restriction while delivering the content for on-demand use. Do you want to use geo-blocking features to control the distribution of your video content?
Read more: OTT App Development: How & Why You Should Develop OTT Application For Your Brand
Frequently Asked Question(FAQ)
1. Why are streaming services Geoblocked?
Streaming services use geoblocking to ensure content isn’t viewed by people living outside of the geographical area in which it is licensed. This allows streaming services to ensure they comply with copyright and licensing restrictions, while also preventing them from being sued by content creators or rights holders.
2. What is geo-restricted Netflix content?
Geoblocking is a technology used by streaming services, such as Netflix, to enforce geographic restrictions for certain content. While this type of content is usually available to subscribers in certain countries, it may be restricted or unavailable in other regions. By using geo-blocking technology, streaming services can keep their content from being accessed in unauthorized locations and protect copyrights around the world.
3. How effective is geo-blocking?
Geo-blocking is an effective way to restrict online access based on geographic location. It works by using a combination of IP address, payment methods and other data to determine where a user is located. While it can be very effective at protecting digital content, it also restricts access to legitimate customers due to false positives. Consequently, some organizations are exploring alternative solutions such as utilizing sophisticated authentication measures instead of geo-blocking.
4. How to Bypass Geo-Blocking and Access Blocked Content
Popular way to bypass geo-blocking is with a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN masks your IP address, making it appear as if you are in another country and allowing you to access blocked websites. Other methods include using a proxy server or Smart DNS services.
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