Multi-DRM market projected to reach $38 billion by 2035

The multi-DRM market’s projected $23 billion expansion signals that content security has transitioned from an IT checkbox to a core business enabler for OTT profitability. Immediate growth hinges on the industry's ability to protect high-value live events and international catalogs across fragmented device ecosystems. As streaming giants and niche providers alike move to cloud-native stacks, DRM efficiency will directly impact operating costs and vendor lock-in risks. Watch for advancements in blockchain-assisted rights tracking and AI-driven license management as the next technical hurdles for vendor differentiation.

The surge in demand for robust content security is closely tied to the massive migration of live sports to digital platforms. Per PwC in 2025, U.S. digital sports viewership is projected to exceed 90 million monthly viewers, a significant jump from 57 million in 2021. This shift has escalated the financial stakes for streaming providers; for instance, the annual spend on live sports media rights in the U.S. reached approximately $28 billion by 2024. Consequently, piracy is now viewed as a critical revenue drain, with industry estimates from Streaming Media in November 2024 warning of more sophisticated threats like 'CDN leeching,' where pirates hijack legitimate infrastructure to redistribute content.

Recent market analysis from Grand View Research in early 2026 confirms that the Video on Demand (VoD) segment remains the primary engine for DRM adoption, accounting for over 46% of the revenue share. This is supported by the rapid integration of cloud-based architectures, with roughly 68% of global OTT platforms expected to fully adopt cloud DRM by late 2026. Beyond entertainment, sectors like education and corporate training are increasingly utilizing these solutions to secure proprietary modules across global workbases.

To counter evolving technical threats, vendors like Irdeto and Intertrust are integrating multi-layered security stacks. According to Strategic Market Research in December 2025, streaming providers are now combining DRM with forensic watermarking and automated live takedown systems to reduce manual enforcement workloads by roughly 31%. These integrated defenses are essential as major players like Netflix and Peacock handle massive concurrent loads during high-profile events, requiring multi-DRM systems capable of issuing billions of licenses monthly without introducing latency.