Take a test drive

Streaming sold itself on simplicity. Press play. Watch the film.

The viewer sees a button. The rights holder sees a logistics operation that quietly eats every margin streaming was supposed to deliver.

Distrotech is the term for the layer beneath the play button. The pipes, the encoders, the metadata, the reporting. It is where the actual cost of being on every platform shows up.

And almost nobody talks about it in public.

The Bandwidth Bill Nobody Reads

Every minute a film streams, someone pays for the bandwidth. That cost sits with the CDN. The CDN bills the platform. The platform passes some of that cost back into the deal.

For a single mid-tier title that reaches reasonable scale, CDN egress can run into six figures a year. For a catalogue holder with hundreds of titles, the maths gets serious quickly.

The bill is invisible until it is not. A successful release that surprises a small platform can wipe out the upside in the contract. The film does well. The economics do not.

Most rights holders never see the line items. They see a smaller share of revenue and assume that is just how the platform negotiates.

It is not. It is the cost of moving the bytes.

Every Platform Wants the File in a Different Shape

You finished the master. You signed the deal. Now the work begins.

Every platform has its own delivery specification. Codec. Bitrate. Container. Frame rate. Colour space. HDR metadata. Loudness target. Closed caption format. The list runs to twenty pages on the major platforms.

You build a transcode pipeline. You re-encode the master for each destination. If the platform changes its spec, you re-encode again.

For an independent producer with one film, this means hiring a post-production house for six weeks and writing a cheque you did not budget for. For a distributor managing a slate, it means a dedicated ops team and a transcode farm running around the clock.

The cost is real. The cost is recurring. The cost rarely shows up in the press release announcing the platform deal.

Metadata Is Where Time Goes to Die

Then come the assets that travel alongside the video.

Title metadata in multiple languages. Synopsis in long and short form. Cast and crew credits formatted to the platform’s internal taxonomy. Genre tags from a closed list that does not match anyone else’s closed list.

Artwork in eight aspect ratios. Subtitles in twenty languages. Audio stems in stereo, 5.1, Atmos, descriptive audio. Trailers cut to platform-specific durations.

Every platform has its own portal. Every portal has its own template. Every template breaks if you change one field.

A delivery to a single major platform can take three weeks of work from someone who does this for a living. A delivery to ten platforms can take a quarter.

The clock starts at signing. The platform will not pay until delivery is accepted. The interest cost on the production loan keeps running.

Two Operations Teams. One Delivery. Months of Back and Forth.

The cost is not only on your side.

The platform runs an ops team too. They receive your files. They run QC. They flag the metadata field you formatted incorrectly. They send the package back. You fix it. You resend.

This loop - flag, fix, resend - can run for weeks on a single title. Multiply it by every platform, every territory, every release window on a full slate, and you have hundreds of hours of skilled labour on both sides of the table, spent on a handshake that should have taken an afternoon.

The combined ops cost of getting content onto streaming platforms is one of the industry’s least visible and most expensive problems. Humans are still doing most of it by hand, in 2026, because the systems were never designed to talk to each other.

Both sides know it is broken. Both sides budget for it anyway. Neither side built the layer that would fix it - because fixing it meant solving a problem that sat between them, and nobody owned the middle.

The Data Does Not Come Back

The film is now live. The viewers are watching. The platform knows everything about them.

You know almost nothing.

You get a monthly report. View counts, sometimes by territory. A revenue line. A statement showing the platform’s calculation of your share. No names. No emails. No retention data. No insight into what drove the spike on day nine.

You cannot email those viewers when your next film comes out. You cannot build a community. You cannot price-test. You cannot do anything that resembles a modern audience relationship.

You delivered the content. The platform kept the audience.

Payment Comes Back in a Hundred Pieces

The revenue arrives slowly. Monthly statements from each platform. Different currencies. Different reporting cycles. Different definitions of a qualifying view.

A distributor with thirty titles across ten platforms in fifteen territories is reconciling hundreds of statements every month. Manually. In spreadsheets. With one full-time finance hire whose only job is to chase missing payments and challenge platform calculations.

The administrative cost of getting paid eats further into a margin that was already thin.

The Fix

The infrastructure problem has always been the same. Storage is in one place. Encoding in another. Delivery in a third. Payments in a fourth. Reporting in a fifth. None of these systems talk to each other. All of them charge.

Hiway is the layer that connects them. One system to ingest the master. One pipeline to deliver to every destination, including direct-to-fan. One ledger for every payment, in every currency, across every territory. One source of truth for the data the platforms keep for themselves.

The point is not to replace streaming platforms. It is to make putting content on them — and selling it directly alongside them, run on the same set of pipes. Without the duplicated ops cost on either side. Without the lost audience relationship. Without the months of integration work for every new deal.

Content owners keep their IP. Their audience data. The majority of their revenue.

The distrotech tax is real. It does not have to be permanent.

Book a demo

You’ve logged in. You’ve had a look around. That means you’ve already seen what Hiway for you.

Now let us show you what happens when you actually put it to work.

We’re hosting a live walkthrough on Tuesday 2 June at 5PM UK for everyone who’s explored Hiway but hasn’t yet uploaded content. In 45 minutes, we’ll take you from “logged in” to live and monetising.

WHAT WE’LL COVER

45 minutes. No slides. Just the platform, live.

→ How to upload and organise your content in minutes

→ Setting up your first pay-per-view, rental, or bundle

→ Building your audience page and driving traffic to it

→ What your dashboard tells you and how to use it

→ How to set up your Screener Room to help finance your project

→ How to use your cast, crew, fanbases and influencers to market your film

Your questions answered in real time. Bring them.

Spots are limited. Reserve yours now.

See you Tuesday,

Book your spot

Marche du Film step and repeat, Cannes 2026

Here is the wrap.

TLDR

→Hiway debuted publicly at the Marche du Film, Cannes 2026.

→Six mediatech innovation firsts launched with the platform.

→David Orman closed the 16th International Film Finance Forum. The room broke into applause.

→Raindance Releasing announced. A streaming service that screens content without ingesting it.

→Two flagship channels live: Shambles and All The Rage by Kin London.

→Screener Rooms running daily on the Marche floor.

→New customers signed across festivals, distributors and rights holders.

→Press coverage including The Hollywood Reporter Day 6 cover.

→The next phase is already moving.

01 · THE WINSTON BAKER STAGE

Greenlight and Global

David Orman joined the closing panel of the 16th International Film Finance Forum on Friday 15 May. Greenlight & Global, on the new rules of independent film and direct-to-fan distribution.

The audience response was the moment of the week. When we explained what Hiway does and how it works, the room broke into applause.

Our thanks to Amy Baker, Katie Witkowski, Maria Soccor and the Winston Baker team for the platform, and to fellow panellists Laura Lewis, Tristen Tuckfield and Nick Vallelonga for the conversation.

02 · THE ANNOUNCEMENT

Raindance Releasing. A world first.

The headline of the festival. Raindance, the independent film festival founded by Elliot Grove with its global filmmaker community, partnered with Hiway to launch Raindance Releasing. A streaming service that receives and screens content without ever ingesting it.

The media never leaves the content owner’s library. No upload. No transcoding. No metadata transfer. The platform carries zero streaming costs because the stream always originates from the content owner’s Hiway account. The content owner stays in full control of their IP throughout, sets their own revenue split, and collects payments and analytics in real time.

Our thanks to Elliot Grove, David Martinez, Olly Hermon Taylor and Ed Hubbard, and the Raindance team for the trust and the partnership, and for an incredible Villa Party.

INDUSTRY FIRSTS

Six mediatech innovations in one launch

1.Zero streaming costs. The stream originates from the content owner’s Hiway account. No CDN bill. No hidden cost in platform margins.

2.Full IP control. Master files never leave the rights holder’s library. No duplicate uploads. No transcoding. No physical deliveries.

3.The rights holder sets the terms. Revenue split, analytics shared or not, customer data shared or not. Per content owner. Per partner. Per deal.

4.Real-time revenue, both sides. Platform and rights holders collect their share of every sale automatically and directly, in real time. No royalty reports 90 days late.

5.Two databases, one truth. Both sides collect viewing analytics and audience data in real time, simultaneously. Each builds its own database.

6.Launch in a day. A streaming platform stands up through Hiway in days, not quarters. Raindance can now invite its independent filmmaker community to onboard in minutes.

“Rights holders make the content. Platforms keep the audience, the data and the margin. The economics had to change. We built the infrastructure to give it back.”

DAVID ORMAN · CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, HIWAY

03 · THE FLOOR

Screener Rooms on the Marche

Hiway’s Screener Rooms ran daily on the Marche floor. Buyers, sales agents and festival programmers walked in, watched content from the rights holder’s own library on the spot, and walked out with the data trail to prove it. No file transfers. No watermark anxiety. No follow-up email chains. The product sold itself in the room.

04 · THE CHANNELS

New launches

Two flagship channels went live during Cannes.

→ Shambles by Rodini Films · shambles.onthehiway.com

→ All The Rage by Kin London · alltherage.onthehiway.com

New customer signings landed across festivals, distributors and archive rights holders. Names to follow as launches go public.

05 · THE COVERAGE

Press from Cannes

The Hollywood Reporter ran the Raindance Releasing story on its Day 6 Cannes cover. International film trade picked up across Variety, Deadline, Screen International and TBI Vision. The UK media business desks covered the founder angle. The full clip list is going up on the press page this week.

The Hollywood Reporter · Cannes Day 6 cover

06 · WHAT’S NEXT

The next eight weeks

Cannes momentum feeds directly into a series of launches over the next eight weeks. New festival partnerships. New distributor integrations. A second wave of channel launches from rights holders we met on the Croisette. Expect the next News from the Hiway before the end of June with the detail.

Thanks to every person who walked into a Screener Room, sat at a meeting, or pulled us aside at the villa. You made this Cannes.

ONE MORE THING

Hiway is not another streaming service.
It’s the infrastructure that lets every rights holder build their own.

It’s how rights holders market direct to their fans. Watch this space.

Book a demo

See you on the Croisette next year.

🎬 Raindance × Hiway

Press Release

CANNES, FRANCE, 17 MAY 2026

Raindance, the UK’s largest independent film festival, today launched its own OTT streaming service, powered by Hiway. The platform lets Raindance monetise its community’s catalogue year-round, hold on to full audience ownership, and operate with effectively zero streaming infrastructure costs.

The launch was announced live at the Raindance Filmmakers Party at the Marché du Film, Cannes 2026. The service is live globally from launch.

Raindance chose Hiway for one reason. The same things the festival gets, the filmmakers get too. Every producer on the platform keeps their IP, captures their own fan data, and takes their share of revenue in real time. That alignment is the whole point.

How it works

Content always stays inside the producer’s own Hiway Content Library. Through Hiway, producers syndicate their content directly to Raindance, without moving the media. The metadata, artwork, licensing period and commercial terms carry through automatically.

Audiences book and watch through a Raindance-branded platform. Filmmakers track every view and every sale in real time. Revenue splits land automatically, for both Raindance and the Filmmakers, with no royalty report lag and no surprise reconciliations.

It is the first time a major film festival has launched a fully branded OTT service in days, with no streaming-cost burden, no multi-quarter buildout, and the kind of transparency content owners have been asking for.

“This is the future of festivals. We are no longer just a 10-day event. Our films, our filmmakers and our audience are on Raindance year-round.” Elliot Grove, Raindance Founder

What’s included

The Raindance OTT service offers year-round access to the festival catalogue, with TVOD (PPV and rentals) and branded collections. Filmmakers and rights holders keep full control of their content and IP. Revenue splits are automated and trackable in real time.

The platform also opens up new commercial models for the festival, including premiere bundles, alumni passes and partner co-productions. Raindance can syndicate selected films to partner platforms without losing the audience relationship.

Why it matters

Festivals mostly operate on a 10-day window of intense activity. A Hiway-powered Raindance OTT changes that. The festival now has a year-round revenue line, a year-round audience relationship and a year-round content business. The platform keeps the Raindance community in front of audiences every month of the calendar, not just the ten days of the festival.

The point is the model works both ways. The festival wins. The filmmakers win on exactly the same terms. The audience stays close to both. Nobody is trading control for distribution.

“Raindance picked Hiway because what works for the festival also works for the filmmaker. We’ve changed the economics of streaming, giving creators the control and transparency they’ve been calling for.”

David Orman, CEO and Co-Founder, Hiway

About Raindance

Raindance is the UK’s largest independent film festival, founded in 1992. It champions independent voices in cinema and runs year-round programmes for filmmakers including the Raindance Film School.

www.raindance.org

About Hiway

Hiway is the direct-to-fan infrastructure layer for the creator economy. It gives content owners one control panel to store, share, distribute, monetise and track their content. Founded by Zach Rothwell, Adam Greenwood and David Orman. Powering independent film, creators, festivals, film schools and enterprise content libraries. www.onthehiway.com

Media contact

Hiway: hello@onthehiway.com

Raindance: press@raindance.org (to confirm)

— ENDS —

Ready before Cannes? Sign up now for your free Screener Room here

Screener Room Here

Every year, thousands of projects arrive at Cannes.

Sales agents and buyers wade through hundreds of submissions. They chase broken links, manage expired passwords, and sit through screenings of films they already know nothing about. Then they make decisions worth millions of dollars based on gut instinct, festival buzz, and a thirty-second pitch in a hotel lobby.

That is not a market. That is organised chaos with a dress code.

The surprising thing is not that bad acquisition decisions get made. The surprising thing is how little information changes hands before they do.

The Buyer’s Problem Is Not Too Few Films. It’s Too Little Signal.

A senior acquisitions executive at a major distributor recently told me they receive more than 400 screener requests ahead of each major market. They have time to watch perhaps 40 of them properly.

The selection process for those 40 is not purely editorial. It is partly logistical. Which links worked. Which arrived with context. Which came packaged as a professional proposition rather than a folder of attachments forwarded from someone’s Gmail.

The film that gets watched is not always the best film. It is often the one that was easiest to take seriously.

That gap between quality and presentation is where distribution technology has the most immediate impact.

Filmmakers Are Flying Blind Too

The data problem runs in both directions.

A filmmaker sends twenty screeners ahead of Cannes. Two buyers respond. Were the other eighteen even opened? Did anyone watch past the first ten minutes? Was the link forwarded to someone who watched it three times and said nothing?

Without answers to those questions, every follow-up conversation is guesswork. You are negotiating without knowing whether the other person has seen your film, how much of it they watched, or how interested they actually are.

That is not a negotiation. It is a performance with no audience feedback.

The screener, which should be one of the most information-rich moments in the entire sales process, currently tells you almost nothing. A file was sent. That is all you know.

What Distribution Technology Is Changing

The shift from file-sharing to controlled streaming changes the information available to both sides of the table.

When a screener is delivered via a SmartLink rather than a download, the filmmaker knows who opened it, exactly when they watched, how far they got, and whether they came back for a second view. Every engagement is logged. Every contact who watches is captured automatically.

That data changes every conversation that follows.

Instead of opening a meeting with “did you get a chance to look at it?”, you walk in knowing they watched the full cut twice. Instead of following up blind, you follow up with context. The filmmaker who arrives at Cannes with screener analytics is operating with information that simply did not exist in the traditional workflow.

For buyers, the experience improves too. A branded screener room that arrives with full EPK materials, financial information, and clean playback on any device signals something important about the project before a single frame plays.

It says this team understands what professional distribution looks like.

Proof of Audience Is Becoming Part of the Pitch

There is a broader shift happening alongside this.

Buyers are increasingly interested in evidence of demand, not just editorial quality. A film with an existing fanbase, documented viewing data, and proof of direct-to-fan revenue is a different conversation to a film with a strong review and no audience validation.

This is partly driven by the streaming era, where platforms trained the market to think in terms of data. But it is also a rational response to risk. Acquisition is expensive. Proof that an audience already exists reduces the uncertainty.

The filmmakers building direct-to-fan platforms before they go to market are arriving at acquisition conversations with something genuinely new: evidence. Ticket sales from digital releases by territory. Audience data from screener views. Email lists of fans who have already paid.

That is leverage. And it is only available to the people who built the infrastructure to capture it.

What a Professional Screener Looks Like in 2026

The standard has moved.

A professional screener now means: branded viewing environment, no third-party logos, EPK materials alongside the film, access that expires on your terms, viewing analytics on every engagement, and automatic CRM capture of every contact who watches.

It means the buyer gets a clean, professional experience. You get data.

Hiway Screener Rooms were built to deliver exactly this, with the Cannes market specifically in mind. Every view is tracked. Every contact lands in your CRM. Access is controlled and revocable. The screener becomes a business tool, not just a file.

The films that get serious attention at Cannes this year will not just be the best films in the room. They will be the ones that arrived most professionally, with the most information behind them, and the clearest evidence that someone on the other side of the table knows what they are doing.

The market has always rewarded preparation.

What has changed is what preparation looks like.

Ready before Cannes.
Set up your Screener Room

FAQs

What is a film screener room and how does it work? A screener room is a secure, branded online environment where filmmakers share their work with buyers, distributors, and financiers. Unlike a WeTransfer link or download, a screener room streams the film from a controlled source, tracks every view in real time, and captures each contact automatically into a CRM. Access can be set to expire, restricted by territory, and revoked at any time.

Why do filmmakers need screener analytics at Cannes? Screener analytics tell you who opened your film, how long they watched, and whether they came back. That information transforms every buyer conversation from a guessing game into an informed negotiation. Knowing a buyer watched your full cut twice before the meeting is a different starting point to knowing nothing at all.

How do you send a secure screener to distributors without risking piracy? Secure screeners stream via a SmartLink rather than a downloadable file, which means the content never sits on a buyer’s hard drive. Access is password-protected, time-limited, and revocable. Every view is logged, so if content leaks, you can trace exactly where it came from. Watermarks can be applied per viewer for additional protection.

What should a professional film screener include for Cannes? A professional screener should include the film itself in high quality, a full EPK (electronic press kit) with stills, synopsis, and credits, financial information for co-production or acquisition conversations, and director or producer notes. All of this should sit within a branded environment that reflects the film’s identity, not a generic third-party platform.

How can direct-to-fan data help when pitching to film buyers? Buyers are increasingly interested in proof of audience, not just editorial quality. If you have already released your film direct-to-fan in select territories, you arrive at acquisition meetings with real data: paying viewers by market, watch-time analytics, and evidence of demand. That reduces the buyer’s risk and strengthens your negotiating position significantly.

Meta description: The Cannes film market runs on gut instinct and broken links. How distribution technology is changing what information buyers and filmmakers have at the point of acquisition. (160 chars)

Suggested hashtags: #Cannes2026 #FilmDistribution #DistroTech #IndependentFilm #ContentTechnology #FilmMarket #Cannes #Hiway

TL;DR

• Hiway Screener Rooms are live now, built for Cannes. Branded, secure, fully tracked screening environments with your logo, stills, look book, and financials all in one place.

• The film screener hasn’t changed in twenty years. WeTransfer links expire, files leak, and you have no idea if anyone actually watched.

• Every view is tracked in real time. You know who opened it, how long they watched, and whether they came back. Every contact lands automatically in your CRM.

• You leave Cannes with a database. Not a pile of business cards.

TL;DR

• Production companies get a free Hiway Screener Room for Cannes 2026.

• Up to £500,000 in match funding available, in partnership with High Fliers Films.

• Sign up at portal.onthehiway.com, no payment required under 5GB.

• Submit by adding cannes@onthehiway.com as a recipient on your Screener Room.

• Pitch deck required. First come, first served. Spots limited.

Screener Sign Up

Real money for real projects at Cannes 2026

Cannes is almost here, and we’re doing something we’ve never done before.

In partnership with High Fliers Films, Hiway is offering a small number of production companies attending Cannes access to match funding of up to £500,000.

Real money. For real projects. Subject to script approval and partnership criteria.

How to get involved

1. Secure your free Hiway Screener Room before Cannes.

2. Use it at the market.

3. Apply for the match funding partnership.

Why you need this

You know what Cannes looks like without the right tools. Screener links sent into the void. Follow-ups that go nowhere. No visibility on who actually watched. You leave with business cards and guesswork.

Hiway changes that.

Every time you share a screener, you see who watched, when they watched, and how long they stayed. Every contact lands in your B2B CRM automatically.

Upload once. Share anywhere. Track everything.

No charge unless you upload more than 5GB of content. Sign up at cannes.s.onthehiway.com using your email and skip the payment section. Spots are limited.

Step 1: Sign up to Hiway

Head to the Hiway portal and create your account. It takes a couple of minutes. For the Cannes offer there is no payment page. You’ll only be prompted to pay if you later upload more than 5GB of content.

Step-by-step

1. Enter your email. Go to cannes.s.onthehiway.com and select ‘Sign up’. On the first box, you only need to enter your email address and receive the OTP. Use the email you use for Cannes business so all your market contacts land in one account.

2. Verify with the OTP. Check your inbox for the one-time passcode and enter it to verify. Codes are valid for ten minutes.

3. You’re in. You’ll land straight in your Hiway dashboard, ready to upload your first screener. No payment page, no subscription to pick.

Already have a Hiway account? Sign in at portal.onthehiway.com and jump straight to Step 2.

Step 2: Upload your trailer, showreel or film

Upload once. Share anywhere. This is the file your buyers, financiers, and sales agents will watch, so use your best quality master.

How to upload

1. Open your content library. From the dashboard, go to Content in the left sidebar and click ‘Upload’.

2. Drag in your file. Drop your trailer, showreel, or feature file. Hiway handles transcoding automatically. Upload your highest-quality master and we take care of the rest.

3. Let it process. Processing runs in the background. You can continue setting things up while it finishes.

Your content stays secure

• No downloads. Viewers watch in-browser only.

• No uncontrolled sharing. Access is fully permissioned.

• Revoke access at any time from the dashboard.

Step 3: Add metadata, artwork and documents

Buyers skim fast. Good metadata and artwork turn a screener into a package, one they’ll remember when they get back to their office.

What to add

1. Metadata. Production company, director, cast, logline, synopsis, genre, running time, stage of production. The more you add, the more professional your Screener Room looks.

2. Artwork. Upload a key art / poster image and a landscape hero image. These appear on your Screener Room and in any link preview when you share.

3. Pitch deck and other assets. Open the Assets tab and add your pitch deck under ‘Other Assets’, plus any one-sheets, press packs, or supporting documents. Buyers can download these alongside the screener, and the pitch deck is required if you want to be considered for match funding.

Step 4: Complete your business profile

Your business profile is what buyers see when they click on your production company. It carries from screener to screener. Set it up once and it’s done.

Fill in

• Company or production company name.

• Logo and banner image.

• Short bio or ‘about’ line.

• Website, social links, and any credits you want visible.

• Primary contact for incoming buyer enquiries.

Step 5: Create your Screener Room

A Screener Room is a secure, private space where named buyers, financiers, sales agents, and partners watch your content. One link, fully tracked, invite-only.

Follow the wizard

1. Open Screener Rooms and click ‘Create Screener Room’. You’ll be taken through a five-step wizard: Details, Content, Recipients, Limits, Geo Blocking.

2. Details. Name your screener (e.g. ‘Cannes 2026 Buyer Screener’) and add any internal notes. This is what you’ll see in your dashboard.

3. Content. Attach the film, trailer, or showreel you uploaded. Your metadata, artwork, and pitch deck flow through automatically.

4. Recipients. Screener Rooms are private by default, there’s no public/paywalled switch. Instead, you add the email list of people who are allowed in. Paste in your buyer emails one by one or via CSV.

5. Add cannes@onthehiway.com. If you want to be considered for the match funding partnership, add cannes@onthehiway.com to the recipient list. That’s how you submit. There’s no separate form.

6. Limits and Geo Blocking. Optionally set view limits, expiry dates, or restrict by country. For most Cannes use cases you can leave these open and click through.

Your screener, your rules

• Only recipients you’ve added can watch. Others who open the link are blocked.

• Revoke or add recipients at any time from the dashboard.

• No downloads. No uncontrolled sharing. Every view tracked by name and email.

Step 6: Test it, then share at the market

Before you send a screener to your first buyer at the Croisette, send it to a colleague. Five minutes now saves an awkward “can you resend” later.

Test and roll out

1. Send to a colleague first. Share the link with someone on your team. Confirm the video plays, the artwork looks right, documents download, and the email-gate behaves correctly.

2. Import your Cannes contacts. Bring your buyer list into the Hiway CRM by CSV import or manually, whichever is faster for you. This is who you’ll be sharing with at the market.

3. Start sharing. Send the Screener Room link from your meetings, email follow-ups, WhatsApp threads, anywhere you’d usually send a screener. The analytics do the rest.

What you leave Cannes with

Not business cards. Not guesswork. A live database of every buyer, financier, sales agent, and partner who actually engaged with your film, and the data to prove it.

Who watched

Every viewer by name and email, captured at the moment they pressed play.

When they watched

Timestamps for every session, so you know which meeting triggered the view.

How long they stayed

Watch-time per viewer. You’ll see who leaned in, and who bounced at minute two.

You keep that data. For this project and the next. Your content stays secure throughout. No downloads, no uncontrolled sharing, fully permissioned.

The match funding partnership

In partnership with High Fliers Films, we’re making up to £500,000 available in match funding. This is an opportunity for producers with the right project at the right stage.

How to submit

1. Create a Hiway Screener Room for the project you want to be considered for.

2. Make sure your pitch deck is attached under Assets > Other Assets on the content.

3. Add hello@onthehiway.com to the Screener Room recipient list. That’s your submission.

4. We’ll review and come back to you if it qualifies for a conversation.

First come, first served.

Don’t forget the pitch deck. Applications without a pitch deck attached to the Screener Room won’t be considered. Add it under the Assets tab on your content before sharing the room with hello@onthehiway.com.

Real money. For real projects. Subject to script approval and partnership criteria. Email hello@onthehiway.com for the full Terms and Conditions.

Sign Up Now for Your Free Screener Room

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to be attending Cannes to use the free Screener Room?

No. Anyone can use the free Screener Room in the run-up to Cannes. The offer is open to production companies whether you’re on the Croisette or not.

Do I need to create a Hiway account to apply for the match funding?

Yes. Applications are accepted in the form of a Hiway Screener Room link. Create your account, upload your project, attach your pitch deck, and add hello@onthehiway.com as a recipient on the Screener Room. That’s your submission.

Is it really free?

Yes. There’s no payment page during sign-up for the Cannes offer. You’ll only be prompted to pay if you upload more than 5GB of total content, which is enough for most trailers, showreels, and feature-length screeners.

What counts toward the 5GB limit?

Only the video files you upload to your content library. Artwork, pitch decks, documents, and metadata don’t count. Hiway handles transcoding behind the scenes. You upload one master, we take care of the rest.

Can someone download my screener?

No. All viewing is in-browser only. There are no download buttons, and the video stream is signed per-viewer. Every view is tracked by name, email, timestamp, and watch-time.

How do I control who can watch?

Screener Rooms are private by default. Only the email addresses you add as recipients can open the screener. You can add, remove, or revoke access at any time from your dashboard.

What should I attach to be considered for match funding?

A pitch deck is required. Upload it under the Assets tab (Other Assets) on your content, alongside your trailer or showreel. The stronger the package, logline, synopsis, cast, stage of production, key art, the better.

When is the match funding deadline?

The deadline will be announced the week of the Cannes Film Festival. In the meantime, capacity is limited and projects are reviewed on a rolling, first-come-first-served basis. The earlier you get your Screener Room and pitch deck in front of us, the better your odds. We’ll confirm if your project qualifies for a conversation once we’ve reviewed the room you’ve shared with hello@onthehiway.com.

Can I apply with more than one project?

Yes. Create a separate Screener Room for each project, each with its own pitch deck attached, and add cannes@onthehiway.com to every room you want us to review.

What happens after Cannes, do I lose my Screener Room?

No. Your account, content, Screener Rooms, and CRM contacts all stay with you. The Cannes offer is about giving you a running start. The platform is yours to keep using for your next project.

What file formats can I upload?

Hiway accepts standard master formats (ProRes, H.264, H.265, MXF, MOV, MP4). Upload your highest-quality master and Hiway transcodes automatically for smooth streaming.

Who is High Fliers Films?

High Fliers Films and its Partners are Hiway’s match funding partner for this initiative. They bring the capital alongside Hiway’s platform and distribution tools. Final funding decisions are made by High Fliers, subject to script approval and partnership criteria.

Still have a question? Email hello@onthehiway.com and we’ll come back to you.

Support and contact

We’re building Hiway with people like you. Use it at Cannes. Break it. Tell us what’s missing. If you’re investing time and money to be there, you should come back with something real.

Hiway Team

For the Cannes offer, Screener Rooms, match funding, or anything else.
hello@onthehiway.com

Product Support

For technical issues with uploads, Screener Rooms, or account access.
support@onthehiway.com

See you on the Croisette.

The Hiway Team

TL;DR

• Hiway Screener Rooms are live now, ready for you ahead of Cannes.

• Branded, secure, fully tracked screening environments with your logo, stills, look book, and financials all in one place.

• The film screener hasn’t changed in twenty years. WeTransfer links expire, files leak, and you have no idea if anyone actually watched.

• Every view is tracked in real time. You know who opened it, how long they watched, and whether they came back. Every contact lands automatically in your CRM.

• You leave Cannes with a database. Not a pile of business cards.

The Screener Is Broken. So We Built A New One. Just In Time For Cannes.

You spent two years making your film.

You agonised over the grade. You obsessed over the sound mix. You paid a designer to make your pitch deck look immaculate.

Then you sent the film itself on a WeTransfer link.

Think about that for a second.

The document you use to ask someone for money looks better than the film you’re asking them to watch. That’s backwards. And in a market as competitive as Cannes, where a buyer is choosing between your project and fifty others they received this week, how you present your film is part of whether they take it seriously.

First impressions don’t start in the room. They start the moment someone opens your screener.

Why the screener process hasn’t changed in twenty years

Links expire. Files corrupt. Watermarks get stripped. You have no idea whether anyone actually watched it, how far they got, or whether they forwarded it to someone you never intended to see it.

That’s not a distribution strategy. That’s guesswork with a deadline.

We built something different.

Hiway Screener Rooms give you a branded, professional screening environment that looks as good as the film inside it. Your logo. Your stills. Your look book. Your financials. All in one place, under your control, with full tracking on every single view.

You’ll know who opened it, when they watched, how long they stayed, and whether they came back. Every buyer, distributor, financier and sales agent who engages lands automatically in your CRM.

You leave Cannes with a database, not a pile of business cards.

What a Screener Actually Needs to Do

A screener is not just a file. It is a business communication.

It represents your film, your company, and your ask. It needs to arrive securely, play reliably, and tell you something useful when it does.

At minimum, a professional screener should tell you: who opened it, when they watched, how much they watched, and whether they shared it onward.

That data changes every conversation you have with a buyer. Instead of following up blind, you follow up knowing whether they watched ten minutes or the full cut. That is leverage.

It should also expire on your terms, not the platform’s. And it should carry your branding, not a third-party logo that makes it look like you cobbled it together.

The Hidden Cost of Unsecured Screeners

Beyond the workflow problem, there is a real rights risk.

Unsecured links are forwarded. Files are downloaded. Watermarks are removed. Films end up on piracy sites before their release date because someone in a distribution chain passed a link to someone they should not have.

This is not theoretical. It happens regularly, and independent filmmakers are the most exposed because they rarely have legal infrastructure to pursue it.

A properly built screener has permissions baked in. Access can be revoked. Views are logged. If something leaks, you know exactly where it came from.

Free Screener Room

What the New Screener Looks Like

The shift is from file-sharing to controlled streaming.

A SmartLink, rather than a download, means the film streams from a secure source rather than living on someone’s hard drive. You control who has access, for how long, and what they can do with it. You see every view in real time.

The sales agent gets a clean, professional viewing experience. You get data.

Both parties benefit. The film is protected. The conversation that follows is informed.

Platforms like Hiway are building exactly this layer, replacing the cobbled-together screener workflow with a single system that handles secure sharing, analytics, and access control from one place.

Screener Room Demo

The Buyers Are Ready for This

Sales agents and distributors do not want to receive WeTransfer links either.

They are managing hundreds of submissions and spending time chasing broken links and misidentified files. A clean, trackable screener that arrives via a branded link, plays immediately, and includes full EPK materials alongside the film is not a nice-to-have. It is a competitive signal.

It says your project is professionally managed. That matters at the point of sale.

The screener is often the first impression a buyer has of your entire operation. Make it count.

The film industry is twenty years behind where it should be on distribution technology.

The screener is the most obvious place to start fixing that.

The internet promised creators independence. The streaming era took it away.

For the past decade, filmmakers, rights holders, and content creators have been handed a deal that goes like this: give us your content, we’ll give it reach, you’ll get a fraction of the revenue, and you’ll never find out who actually watched it. That’s not distribution. That’s tenancy.

Hiway was built to fix that. And as of today, it is open to everyone.

The Platform Is Ready

We have rebuilt Hiway from the ground up.

The new interface is faster, cleaner, and significantly more powerful - designed around one principle: you should be able to upload your content, define your commercial terms, and start reaching your audience anywhere in the world, without handing control to a third party.

One control panel. Every tool you need. From secure B2B screeners through to direct-to-fan monetisation, audience analytics, and real-time payments - all in one place.

This is not a beta. Content is already being distributed. Revenue is already flowing. Platforms are already live.

SIGN UP TO THE HIWAY NOW

Who Hiway Is Built For

If you create content, own rights, or distribute to an audience, Hiway was built for you.

Filmmakers and production companies can release directly to audiences, manage screeners for buyers and press, and build a direct relationship with fans — while retaining full control of their rights and revenue.

Film festivals can run on-demand platforms, sell passes, and build year-round engagement with their audience - rather than earning for two weeks and going dark for the other fifty.

Sports rights holders, federations, and clubs can stream directly to fans globally, understand their audience, and communicate with them without routing everything through third-party infrastructure.

Content creators and influencers can monetise content, retain up to 90% of revenue, and stop handing their audience relationship to platforms that use it against them.

Industry organisations and publishers can launch white-label streaming destinations to activate and monetise content libraries they already own.

What Is Already Happening on Hiway

The platform is not theoretical. It is being used today.

Winston Baker has launched its film finance platform on Hiway, creating a paywalled destination for its global industry community. Elevate Film School has partnered with Hiway, bringing direct-to-fan infrastructure to the next generation of filmmakers from day one. Production companies are actively uploading and managing film libraries — using Hiway for B2B rights management, screeners, and D2C releases within a single system.

And this week, xfm launched on Hiway: featuring Ricky Gervais, Oasis, Damon Albarn, The Libertines and more - now streaming directly to fans via Hiway infrastructure.

This is not just independent content. Established cultural brands are building on the platform.

Three New Features Now Live

Screener Rooms

You can now create secure, password-protected screener rooms directly within your Hiway account — presenting projects to distributors, buyers, and investors in a controlled, trackable environment.

Built in time for Cannes and the festival circuit, this is already being used by production companies preparing market materials. Invite-only access. Expiry controls. Full analytics on who watched what, and for how long.

Social Distribution Tools

You can now post your Hiway content directly to your social channels from within the platform. Every viewer who arrives from social builds your audience database. Every transaction provides evidence of demand — both increasingly important when engaging with financiers and partners.

Create SmartLink clips or MP4 social clips directly from your content library in seconds.

Syndication and Affiliate Distribution

Hiway allows you to activate your wider network by enabling collaborators, affiliates, influencers, and partners to distribute your content. Through simple digital agreements, partners can share SmartLinks or embed your content within their own platforms — earning a commission on every view or sale they generate.

You retain ownership of your content and your audience data. Revenue is automatically split and distributed in real time. Your network becomes your distribution channel.

Why Now

For most organisations, going direct to fan has been difficult because of the cost, complexity, and time required to build streaming infrastructure. Hiway removes these barriers entirely.

There is no infrastructure cost to get started. No development cycles. No technical team required. You go live in minutes, under your own brand, with payments flowing directly to your account.

The Premier League recently announced direct-to-fan streaming in Singapore as a test market. Major rights holders are exploring exactly the model Hiway was built to deliver. The advantage right now is early. That will not last.

Upload once. Distribute anywhere. Track everything. Get paid instantly.

REQUEST A DEMO

What Does Hiway Actually Do?

Hiway is a content operating system. One account gives you every tool you need to manage your content from creation through to distribution and monetisation — without giving control away.

Upload your content once. Set your pricing, access rules, and territories. Hiway generates a SmartLink that handles delivery across multiple formats: pay-per-view, rental, subscription, gated access, or free-to-view.

Your audience pays you directly, with revenue flowing into your account in real time. Every viewer interaction builds your audience dataset — giving you ongoing insight and control that no platform will ever hand you.

In short:

• Store and manage your entire content library in one place

• Share secure screeners with buyers, distributors, press, and investors

• Launch direct-to-fan releases via PPV, rental, passes, or subscription

• Set territory-by-territory pricing and access rules

• Own every data point — viewer identities, watch time, transaction history

• Get paid instantly, directly to your bank account

Your content. Your fans. Your money. Your way. On the Hiway.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hiway

What is Hiway and how is it different from streaming platforms like Netflix or Amazon?

Hiway is not a streaming platform. It is the infrastructure that content owners use to run their own content business — storing, distributing, monetising, and tracking their content — without giving control to a third party. Think Shopify for content, not Netflix for viewers. Netflix acquires content and owns the audience. Hiway gives you the tools to own your audience yourself, keep your revenue, and retain your IP.

How much does it cost to use Hiway, and what percentage of revenue do creators keep?

Hiway is designed so that content owners keep up to 90% of revenue generated through the platform. There is no infrastructure cost to get started and no large upfront investment required. Revenue flows directly into your bank account in real time - there are no delayed monthly payouts or opaque reporting windows. Visit onthehiway.com for current pricing details or book a demo to discuss your specific use case.

Can I use Hiway to send secure screeners to distributors and buyers?

Yes. Hiway’s Screener Rooms allow you to create secure, password-protected private screening environments directly within your account. You can share projects with distributors, buyers, investors, and press - with invite-only access, expiry controls, and full analytics showing who watched, how much they watched, and when. This replaces insecure Vimeo links or email attachments with a professional, trackable B2B delivery system.

Who is Hiway built for - is it only for independent filmmakers?

Hiway is built for anyone who creates content, owns rights, or distributes to an audience. This includes independent filmmakers and documentary makers, film festivals, sports rights holders and federations, music rights owners, content creators and influencers, production companies, distributors, archive and catalogue rights owners, and industry organisations and publishers. If you currently rely on third-party platforms to reach your audience and feel you are losing revenue, data, or control in the process — Hiway was built for you.

TL;DR

• For years the media industry assumed that discovery happened on platforms. Get your content onto a big streaming service and the algorithm would eventually surface it to the right audience.
  
  

• That is no longer how most people discover what to watch. Increasingly the journey begins somewhere else entirely, inside conversations, communities, social media feeds, or through AI assistants that understand exactly what someone is looking for.
  
  

• As discovery spreads across the internet rather than sitting inside a single platform, the most effective distribution strategy changes as well.
  
  

• Instead of building one destination and trying to pull audiences towards it, creators can place their content wherever those conversations are already happening.
  
  

• The key is doing this while still keeping control of the rights, the revenue and the relationship with the audience.

Here’s a question worth sitting with.

When did you last decide to watch something because a platform recommended it to you?

Now think about the last five things you actually watched. Where did you first hear about them?

A conversation. A post. A forum thread. A friend. An AI that understood what you were in the mood for.

Recommendations from friends and family remain the number one way people discover what to watch. For under-35s, social media now ranks above everything else - 68% of Americans aged 18 to 24 say social media is where they find their next watch. Attest

The platform’s algorithm - the one content owners have been chasing, paying to optimise for, and building release strategies around - isn’t even in the top two.

The Discovery Map Has Redrawn Itself

The old model was simple. Build great content. Get it on a platform. Let the platform surface to the right audience.

The problem is that the model handed all the power to the platform. They controlled the algorithm. They decided what got promoted. They owned the relationship with the viewer.

And even when it worked, 53% of younger viewers say they get better recommendations from social media than from the streaming platforms themselves. Deloitte Insights

The platform’s discovery engine was never as powerful as it claimed to be.

Now AI is accelerating the shift further. Daily AI search users in the US doubled from 14% to 29% in just six months through 2025. eMarketer Gartner projects that by 2028, half of all online searches will involve an AI assistant. Superlines

These aren’t people typing keywords into Google. They’re having conversations. Describing a mood, a theme, an interest. And AI is answering with specific, relevant recommendations - drawn from wherever the content lives, not from what a platform chose to promote.

AI search compresses the entire discovery-to-purchase journey into a single interaction. What used to take days now takes hours. eMarketer

The audience is already out there. They’re already searching. The question is whether your content shows up when they do.

The Shopfront Model Is Broken

Most content marketing is still built around one assumption: create a destination, then drive people to it.

Build a website. Build a social following. Buy ads. Run a campaign. Bring the audience to you.

That model made sense when distribution was centralised. When there were a handful of platforms, a handful of outlets, and a clear pathway from promotion to view.

That world is gone.

56% of younger viewers watch a film or show after discovering it through a creator or community online. Deloitte Insights They didn’t go looking for it at the content owner’s shopfront. They found it in a conversation, on a forum, in a community they already trusted.

The content that travels is the content that wins.

Decentralised Distribution: Take the Content to the Fan

This is the thinking behind Hiway’s syndication tool.

Not “build a better destination.” But “put the content inside every relevant conversation, across every relevant platform, wherever the audience already is.”

The model is straightforward. A content owner creates their content on Hiway. They set their pricing, their rights, their territories. Then, instead of waiting for the audience to find them, they syndicate - pushing the content out to media sites, fan forums, blogs, social channels, niche communities, and independent publishers who are already talking to exactly the audience they want.

Each of those distribution points gets an affiliate fee for every sale or stream they generate. The incentive is real. The alignment is direct. A film finance blog, an indie film forum, a genre-specific YouTube channel - they all have a reason to surface your content to their audience because they earn from it when they do.

No platform politics. No promotional budget spent on algorithm games. The content goes to where the conversation is happening.

What Makes This Different

The critical difference isn’t just the distribution model. It’s what the content owner keeps.

With every traditional platform deal, you hand over three things: your audience data, your revenue share, and meaningful control over how your content is presented.

Hiway’s syndication flips that.

Wherever the content is streamed - on a blog, embedded in a newsletter, hosted on a partner site - the rights stay with the content owner. The audience data flows back to them. The payment goes directly to their account, in real time.

A fan discovers your documentary through an interview they read on a film finance site. They click. They watch. They pay. You know who they are. You keep the revenue. The site that sent them your way gets their affiliate cut.

That’s decentralised distribution with centralised control.

Why This Matters More in the AI Era

AI discovery changes the value of being everywhere.

When a viewer asks an AI for recommendations - “what’s the best recent documentary about independent film finance?” - the answer is drawn from what’s available, what’s well-described, and what’s accessible. Not from what a platform chose to feature.

Content that exists in multiple places, with consistent metadata, attached to communities and conversations across the web, has a compounding advantage. It’s findable. It’s citable. It shows up.

Content sitting behind a single platform’s paywall, waiting to be surfaced by their algorithm, does not.

Visitors referred by AI platforms spend 68% more time on the pages they land on than visitors from traditional search. SeaRanks The intent is higher. The engagement is deeper. These are not casual browsers. They are people who specifically wanted to find something like what you made.

Be in the places AI looks. Be in the communities where your audience already is. Let them find you through the conversations they’re already having - and give every platform, blog, and forum that hosts those conversations a reason to point toward your content.

The Infrastructure That Makes It Work

None of this is possible without the right foundation.

Syndication at scale requires a single source of truth for your content. Rights have to be clear and consistent across every distribution point. Payments have to reconcile accurately against every affiliate relationship. Audience data has to flow back to you, not fragment across every platform you syndicate to.

That’s what Hiway is built to do. One master. Infinite reach. Full control at every point.

You don’t have to choose between scale and ownership. Decentralised distribution, with the data, the revenue, and the rights always pointing back to you.

The audience is already out there. They’re already searching.

Go to them.

Introduction

Every week there’s a new headline. “SaaS is dead.” “AI agents will replace your software stack.” Satya Nadella said it in December 2024. Palantir’s CEO said it again in early 2026, wiping $300 billion in market cap from Microsoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow in a single day.

The tech press loves a funeral.

But here’s what nobody is saying: the debate is about the wrong layer.

They’re arguing about the shop front when the value is in the warehouse.

What Is Actually Dying (And What Isn’t)

Nadella was right, but not in the way most people interpreted it.

What’s dying is the interface. The dashboard. The multi-tab, multi-login, navigate-between-four-systems-to-complete-one-task experience that made SaaS feel like progress but was always just friction with a monthly invoice.

AI agents don’t need a GUI. They talk to APIs. They don’t log in — they orchestrate. The software behind the interface, where the data actually lives, is not going anywhere.

IDC put it well: SaaS is being disrupted by evolution, not decline. The question isn’t whether software dies. It’s who controls the data layer when the interface disappears.

For content owners, that question matters more than any other.

What Content Owners and Rights Holders Actually Need

A filmmaker finishes a feature. A production company produces a season of content. A distributor or aggregator acquires a library.

At that moment, they have one fundamental need: a secure place to store what they own, share it with the right people, and get paid for it.

That is not going away. AI doesn’t change the fact that content exists, that it has value, and that someone needs to manage where it goes and who sees it.

💡 “Content is king. Ownership is power. Infrastructure is leverage.”

What AI does change is what you can do with content once it’s stored. That’s where most of the industry is still asleep.

Why Secure Content Storage Remains a Subscription Market

The SaaS tools losing ground are the ones built around interface complexity: dashboards, seat licences, and workflows designed for operations teams navigating multiple apps.

That model doesn’t map onto content at all.

Content doesn’t have users. It has rights holders. It has audiences. It has revenue events. The need to store that content securely, maintain the rights chain, and control who accesses what, that is a permanent infrastructure requirement. It’s not going to be replaced by an AI agent.

The agent needs somewhere to work from.

The API Economy Doesn’t Kill the Data Layer. It Proves It.

Here’s what the “SaaS is dead” conversation is actually describing: people are moving away from monolithic software products with locked-in interfaces, and building bespoke systems instead. They’re calling APIs directly. They’re stitching together the specific capabilities they need and wrapping their own interface around them.

That’s not the death of software. That’s software maturing.

This is what protocols like MCP - the Model Context Protocol - are actually doing. Despite the hype, MCP isn’t a new kind of technology. It’s a standardisation of how AI agents talk to services. Think of it the way USB standardised how peripherals connect to computers: it didn’t invent anything new, it just meant everything could finally plug into the same socket.

APIs have always been the capability layer underneath every piece of software you use. What’s new is that AI agents can now discover and use them without a developer wiring each one up by hand. That changes who can build on top of your infrastructure - but it makes the infrastructure itself more important, not less.

And it raises a question that nobody making the funeral announcement seems to be asking: what are all those APIs pulling from?

Data. Content. Assets. Financial records. Rights. Audience relationships.

Every agent, every integration, every automated workflow needs somewhere to pull from. A source of record. A place where the master version lives and the permissions are set correctly and the revenue history is accurate.

That place doesn’t disappear when the interface does. It becomes more important.

Because now it’s not just a human logging in to check something. It’s an AI agent making decisions based on what’s there. It’s a distribution partner pulling a file at 3am. It’s a payment system reconciling against a rights record it trusts because it’s clean and current.

💡 The easier it is to connect to your system, the more indispensable your system becomes.

For content owners, the API economy is not a threat. It’s the argument for getting your house in order. The cleaner your data layer, the more valuable every integration becomes.

Build the foundation. Let the agents come.

The End of One Size Fits All

There’s a subtler shift happening underneath the automation story that’s worth paying attention to.

Today, the way you interact with any software is defined by the company that built it. Their design team decided what your dashboard looks like, what reports you can run, how you navigate your own data. The API - the raw capability underneath - has always been more powerful than the interface sitting on top of it. But until now, only developers could use it.

AI changes that equation. For the first time, a non-technical user can interact with the capability layer directly, describing what they need in plain language, and having an AI agent query, structure, and present it.

The vendor’s UI doesn’t disappear. It becomes a starting point. A template. A demo of what’s possible. And then you reshape it to how you actually work.

The SaaS UI was never the product. It was the vendor’s best guess at what you needed. AI means you no longer have to accept someone else’s guess.

This is what “the interface is dying” really means. Not that interfaces go away, but that the era of one-interface-fits-all is ending. The software vendor’s job shifts from “build the experience” to “build the foundation and let every customer have their own.”

AI as the Interface for Content Management

Right now, most content owners use storage the way people used filing cabinets. Drop it in. Label it. Hope you find it again.

That model is over.

The next generation of content infrastructure is not just a place to put things. It’s a system that understands what you have, who it’s for, how to reach them, and what the content is worth. An AI interface layered over a content library doesn’t just organise it, it activates it.

Think about what that looks like in practice:

You upload a film. The system reads the metadata, identifies the audience segments most likely to engage, suggests the right distribution windows, and generates the marketing materials. It sets up a SmartLink with the correct rights controls and payment terms already baked in. You review. You approve. You distribute.

Not across six different tools. One system.

This is the version of AI disruption worth paying attention to. Not the one that kills your software stack. The one that makes your content work harder without you surrendering ownership to get there.

Why Hiway Is Built for This Moment

This is exactly the infrastructure question that Hiway was designed to answer.

Hiway is not a platform in the traditional sense. It doesn’t compete with Netflix, Amazon, or any content destination. It sits underneath all of them. The rails, not the train.

Hiway gives content owners a single source of truth: one place where the master file lives, rights are recorded, audience data accumulates, and payments flow back in real time. That foundation is what makes an AI layer genuinely useful. Without it, AI has nothing to work with. With it, AI becomes an accelerant for distribution, marketing, and direct-to-fan monetisation.

The data moat is the defence. The audience relationships. The rights chain. The revenue history. Those don’t move, they compound.

In Practice: Winston Baker Goes On Demand With Hiway

Winston Baker has been the world’s leading entertainment finance conference producer since 2008. Their events at Cannes, the European Film Market, and the Venice Biennale have featured the biggest names in film finance - from senior executives to award-winning filmmakers.

Their content library, every panel, fireside chat, and keynote from over a decade of sold-out events, is genuinely valuable. But until recently, it wasn’t working for them.

After seeing a demo of Hiway, the team asked a straightforward question: could they use the platform to re-launch their on-demand content hub?

The answer was yes.

Create an account. Upload the content. Set pricing, metadata, and territories. Done.

Winston Baker didn’t get a white-label version of someone else’s product. They got their own. Hiway’s infrastructure is built so that every client’s experience can be different, shaped to their content, their audience, their brand, because the capability layer underneath is designed to be composed, not configured. The same foundation, but never the same front door.

Winston Baker owns their audience data. Payments go directly to them, in real time.

That’s the principle in practice. The interface is theirs. The infrastructure is shared. And nobody had to accept someone else’s guess about how their content should be presented.

👉 View the Winston Baker streaming hub:
winstonbaker.onthehiway.com

What Content Owners Should Do Right Now

Stop worrying about which SaaS tools AI will make redundant.

Start asking:

→ Where does my content actually live?
→ Who controls that environment?
→ Do I own the audience data it generates?
→ Can I see, in real time, what’s performing and what’s being paid?

If the answer to any of those is “I’m not sure” or “it’s spread across a few places”; that’s the problem to fix.

Get your content under one roof. Build the data layer now. Let the AI interface sit on top of something real.

The debate about SaaS dying is a debate designed for enterprise operations teams. It has very little to do with content ownership.

Your world is content. Rights. Audiences. Revenue.

That infrastructure isn’t being disrupted. It’s being built.

TLDR:

• Your audience lives in Discord servers, WhatsApp groups, Reddit threads, and private communities that ads can’t reach.

• Hiway’s syndication tool lets you distribute your content directly to partner platforms with automated revenue sharing, shared viewer analytics, and full IP control.

• Your partners earn a commission. You keep your data. Everyone knows exactly what’s working.

See it in action

Every marketer knows the problem.

You build something good. You launch a platform, a website, a content library. You drive traffic, run ads, chase algorithms.

And still, the right people never seem to find you.

That’s not a content problem. It’s a distribution problem.

The Audience Has Scattered

Your audience isn’t sitting in one place, waiting to discover you.

They’re in Discord servers debating their favourite shows. Reddit threads sharing niche recommendations. WhatsApp groups passing links to things they love. Signal channels, Telegram communities, private newsletters, niche blogs.

Dark social. Closed groups. Micro-communities that algorithms can’t map and ads can’t reach.

These pockets of people are having conversations that are directly relevant to your content right now. And you’re not in the room.

The traditional answer has been to build a better funnel. Drive people to your destination. Optimise the landing page. Reduce drop-off. Improve retention.

But that assumes your audience will make the journey to you.

Most of them won’t.

Bringing the Content to the Audience

The shift isn’t about better acquisition tactics. It’s about flipping the model entirely.

Instead of pulling audiences to your destination, you distribute your content to theirs.

You meet fans in the communities where they already spend time. You give partners, sponsors, affiliates, and friends the tools to embed your content directly into their platforms, sites, and channels. You remove the friction of discovery entirely.

This is what content syndication is supposed to be. Not scraping and republishing without credit. A structured, contractual relationship between content owners and distribution partners, where both sides benefit, both sides get the data, and every piece of content carries a traceable, verified link back to its source.

How Hiway Syndication Works

From your Hiway library, you can now set up content syndication contracts directly with partners.

A partner could be a media brand. A sponsored platform. A niche blog. A community site. A streaming partner in a territory you’re trying to crack.

They embed your content into their platform using a unique SmartLink. That link is traceable, trackable, and verifiable, so you always know exactly where your audience has come from, and who drove the view.

You decide the terms. You set a revenue share. You agree the commission. The payments are automated: after the Hiway transaction fee, revenue splits according to the contract you’ve already agreed inside the system. No chasing. No manual reconciliation. No disputes about numbers.

Both parties get access to shared viewer analytics. Both parties see the audience data. Everyone knows what’s working.

And because every piece of content lives in your Hiway library, you never lose control of your IP.

Want to see how syndication contracts works in practice?

Incentivising the People Already in the Room

The real power of syndication isn’t just distribution. It’s alignment.

When you give a partner a commission for placing your content, you’ve given them a reason to promote it. Actively. To their audience. In the communities and conversations you couldn’t reach alone.

That Discord moderator who loves your work? Now they have a financial reason to share it.

That niche publication whose readers are your perfect audience? Now they have a business model for featuring your content.

That affiliate in a territory you’re trying to grow? Now they’re a motivated distribution partner.

You’re not just finding fans. You’re recruiting advocates who already have the trust of the communities you want to reach, and rewarding them for bringing your content to those conversations.

The New Era of Content Marketing

Marketing used to mean bringing people to your door.

The smarter model is meeting people where they are, rewarding the people who know those communities best, and letting the content travel on your terms.

Your IP stays protected. Your data flows back to you. Your revenue is tracked and split automatically.

You’re not chasing audiences across the internet. You’re building a network of motivated partners who carry your content into the places that matter, all connected through a single system you control.

That’s not a campaign. That’s infrastructure.

Ready to build your syndication network?

If you’ve got this far thanks, please share far and wide!

Thanks for reading. See you next week.

- The Hiway Team

The Single Source of Truth Solution You’ve Been Waiting For

For years, content creators have been trapped in a fragmented distribution cycle. Every platform requires a different version of your content. Every deal demands unique encoding, custom graphics, and separate uploads. You end up managing dozens of copies scattered across various providers, each with its own walled-off analytics and payment systems.

Industry analysts predict that 2026 is the year content owners finally confront this hidden cost. The solution? Centralized distribution. At Hiway, we built the platform that lets you “ingest once, publish everywhere.”

Upload Once, Distribute Everywhere

Hiway’s single source of truth starts with one simple principle: you upload your content once to your library.

• One master file. One version. One source.

From that single piece of content, you create unlimited SmartLinks. Each link streams from that same source but can be configured for entirely different purposes, audiences, and business models.

The Concept: Your film sits safely in your Hiway library. You create 100 SmartLinks pointing to it. Each link has unique settings, yet they all pull from the same high-fidelity master content.

SmartLinks for Every Use Case

Hiway transforms your workflow by giving you a specialized tool for every stage of your film’s life:

• B2B Collaboration Links: Share with financiers, co-producers, and agencies. Grant secure access with full control over permissions and viewing rights.

• Industry Distribution Links: Provide sales agents and aggregators with a single link containing your video, audio tracks, subtitles, posters, and EPK materials—all in one place.

• Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) Links: Publish straight to your fans. Make it free to build your fanbase and capture data, or monetize with Pay-Per-View for transactional rentals and purchases.

• Content Package Links: Bundle multiple films together. Create your own mini-streaming service with curated content packages tailored to your specific audience.

You Command the Terms

Every Smart Link is completely customizable. You aren’t just sharing a video; you are sharing a business deal.

• Set your own pricing and payment terms.

• Define territories and licensing restrictions.

• Control the split: Decide exactly who gets paid and how much.

• Enable affiliate partnerships to expand your reach.

• Capture data: Every view provides comprehensive audience insights.

The Power of Unified Data

In traditional systems, if one platform gets a million views and another gets a million, you rarely see the full picture in real-time.

With Hiway, you see 2 million total views attributed to your single source of content. Because every view, unique visitor, and data point flows back to one master record, you finally understand your content’s true performance.

Track Every Distribution Path

Each Smart Link includes unique trackable codes, allowing you to see exactly:

1. Where your content is being shared across the internet.

2. Which distribution channels drive the most engagement.

3. Which partners are delivering the best results.

All Revenue Flows to One Source

Just as all views aggregate to your single source of content, so does all revenue. Every rental, purchase, or subscription transaction connects back to your master record. From there, you can distribute earnings to investors and partners based on the terms you set.

No more reconciling payments across multiple platforms. No more fragmented financial reporting. One source of content, one revenue stream, complete transparency.

Built for 2026 and Beyond

The media industry is shifting toward creator-owned platforms and direct audience relationships. Hiway gives you the infrastructure to own your distribution strategy without sacrificing your reach.

You’re in command:

• Upload once

• Create unlimited SmartLinks

• Capture complete analytics

• Receive direct payment

One piece of content. Infinite possibilities. Total control.

Ready to see it in action?

Take a test drive on the Hiway: onthehiway.com/get-a-demo

In an era where AI can generate fake films, forge celebrity performances, and flood the internet with counterfeit content, proving ownership isn’t optional - it’s survival. Hiway is building a blockchain-backed provenance system that creates an unforgeable chain of authenticity, separating real creators from AI imposters.

The AI revolution has created an authenticity crisis. Within seconds, generative AI can create convincing film trailers, synthetic actor performances, and entire documentaries that never existed. Deepfake technology has advanced to the point where distinguishing real content from AI-generated forgeries is nearly impossible for the human eye.

For filmmakers, this isn’t just a technical challenge - it’s an existential threat to intellectual property, brand integrity, and revenue streams. When anyone can generate content that mimics your style, uses AI-cloned voices, or creates “lost footage” that never existed, how do you prove what’s real?

The answer lies in cryptographic provenance connected to verifiable identity - something only the legitimate creator can provide. Hiway is building exactly that.

The AI Content Crisis: Fake Films, Synthetic Actors, and Counterfeit Catalogues

The Scale of the Problem

AI-generated content is flooding platforms at unprecedented rates:

• Deepfake videos increased by 900% in 2024 alone, with film content particularly vulnerable

• AI voice cloning can replicate any actor’s voice from just 3 seconds of audio

• Synthetic media platforms now generate feature-length “films” in hours, often using copyrighted styles and concepts

• Content farms deploy AI to create thousands of fake trailers, behind-the-scenes footage, and promotional materials

Real-World Impact on Filmmakers

The consequences are devastating:

• Revenue Theft: Fake sequels and “director’s cuts” monetise on platforms, stealing views and ad revenue

• Brand Damage: AI-generated content using your style or characters damages reputation and dilutes IP value

• Licensing Confusion: Distributors and buyers struggle to verify authenticity, slowing legitimate deals

• Legal Nightmares: Proving ownership in court requires expensive forensic analysis and lengthy proceedings

• Fan Deception: Audiences unknowingly consume fake content, eroding trust in legitimate releases

The fundamental problem: Traditional content systems have no built-in way to prove provenance. A video file is just a file - there’s no inherent proof of who created it, when, or whether it’s been altered.

Hiway’s Solution: Blockchain-Backed Provenance That Proves Authenticity

Hiway is solving the AI authenticity crisis through blockchain-registered content ownership - creating an immutable record that connects your content directly to your verified identity, establishing an unforgeable chain of custody from creation to distribution.

How It Works: The Provenance Foundation

1. Verified Creator Identity

• Your Hiway account is created through secure identity verification

• Each creator has a unique, verified account tied to their real-world identity

• This becomes your cryptographic signature - impossible to forge or duplicate

• Production companies can establish multi-stakeholder verification for collaborative projects

2. Blockchain-Registered Content

• The moment you upload content to Hiway, it’s registered on blockchain infrastructure

• Your content receives a cryptographic hash - a unique digital fingerprint

• This hash is timestamped and recorded immutably, proving you possessed this exact file at this exact moment

• Metadata includes creator identity, upload timestamp, rights information, and file fingerprint

3. Immutable Chain of Custody

• Every action - edits, version updates, distribution agreements - is recorded on the blockchain

• Each transaction is linked to your verified account, creating an unbreakable audit trail

• Licensing terms, territorial rights, and usage permissions are automatically documented

• All changes are traceable back to the original creator account

4. Public Verification (Coming Soon)

• Anyone will be able to verify content authenticity by checking the blockchain record

• Verification will confirm: creator identity, creation date, modification history, and current ownership status

• No centralised authority needed - the blockchain itself is the proof

The Unforgeable Advantage: Why AI Can’t Fake Blockchain Provenance

Cryptographic Impossibility

AI can generate convincing videos, but it cannot:

• Forge your verified creator account (requires real-world identity verification)

• Create backdated blockchain records (immutable ledger prevents historical tampering)

• Replicate your on-chain transaction history (each account has a unique, verifiable history)

• Register content without your authorisation (requires your authenticated account access)

The Authentication Process

When someone questions content authenticity:

Traditional Method (Weeks/Months):

• Hire forensic analysts to examine files

• Gather creation documentation and witness testimony

• Legal proceedings to establish ownership

• Expensive, slow, and often inconclusive

Hiway Method (Seconds, once fully deployed):

• Check blockchain record for creator account

• Verify cryptographic hash matches claimed content

• Review immutable timestamp and modification history

• Instant, verifiable, legally defensible proof

Real-World Use Cases: Protecting Your Content from AI Fraud

1. Preventing Deepfake Sequels and Unauthorised “Remakes”

The Threat: AI generates a fake sequel to your film using synthetic actors and your visual style, monetising on streaming platforms.

Hiway Protection:

• Your original film’s blockchain record proves you’re the sole creator

• The fake sequel has no valid provenance chain connected to your verified account

• Platforms can verify authenticity before allowing uploads

• Takedown notices include cryptographic proof of ownership

• Legal action is supported by immutable blockchain evidence

2. Combating AI Voice Cloning and Synthetic Performances

The Threat: AI clones an actor’s voice from your film, creating fake promotional content or unauthorised appearances.

Hiway Protection:

• Legitimate content includes actor consent records on-chain, verified through their accounts

• Voice usage rights are cryptographically bound to specific projects

• Any content lacking proper verification is provably unauthorised

• Actors can publicly verify which projects they’ve legitimately participated in

3. Stopping Content Farm Exploitation

The Threat: AI content farms generate thousands of fake trailers, clips, and “behind-the-scenes” footage using your IP.

Hiway Protection:

• Only content registered to your verified account carries legitimate provenance

• AI-generated fakes have no connection to your cryptographic identity

• Automated monitoring flags content claiming to be yours without proper verification

• Distributors and platforms can verify authenticity before acquisition

4. Protecting Archive and Catalogue Value

The Threat: AI generates “lost footage” or “alternate versions” that dilute your catalogue’s value and create confusion.

Hiway Protection:

• Complete filmography is registered on-chain with your verified account

• Every legitimate version, edit, and release is cryptographically documented

• Buyers can verify they’re acquiring authentic content with clear provenance

• Catalogue integrity is maintained through immutable records

The Technical Architecture: How Blockchain-Backed Provenance Works

Content Hashing and Fingerprinting

Every file uploaded to Hiway undergoes:

• SHA-256 Hashing: Creates a unique 256-bit fingerprint of your content

• Perceptual Hashing: Identifies content even if re-encoded or slightly modified

• Frame-Level Fingerprinting: Embeds invisible watermarks in every frame, linked to your account

Blockchain Registration

The hash is recorded on the blockchain with:

• Creator Account ID: Your unique verified identity

• Timestamp: Exact moment of registration (immutable)

• Metadata Hash: Project details, cast/crew, rights information

• Smart Contract Integration: Automated enforcement of usage rights

Secure Account Authentication

Every transaction is authenticated through your verified account:

• Multi-Factor Authentication: Ensures only you can register content

• Identity Verification: Real-world identity linked to your account

• Audit Trail: Complete history of all account actions

• Multi-User Support: Production companies can have multiple authorised users

Verification System (In Development)

Our roadmap includes public verification APIs that will allow anyone to verify content:

GET /verify/content

Parameters:

- content_hash: SHA-256 hash of the file

- creator_account: Claimed creator’s account ID

Response:

- authentic: true/false

- creator_account: verified account

- registration_date: original timestamp

- modification_history: complete audit trail

- current_owner: current rights holder

Beyond Anti-Piracy: The Strategic Value of Provenance

1. Premium Pricing for Verified Content

In a market flooded with AI-generated content, provenance becomes premium:

• Buyers pay more for content with verified authenticity

• Distributors prioritise content with clear ownership chains

• Advertisers prefer platforms with authenticated content

• Streaming services can market “verified creator” catalogues

2. Instant Licensing and Rights Clearance

Traditional rights clearance takes weeks; Hiway’s blockchain records make it faster:

• Blockchain record shows current ownership and licensing status

• Automated systems track territorial and temporal rights

• Reduced need for legal teams to verify ownership - it’s cryptographically proven

• Licensing deals close faster, generating revenue sooner

3. Creator Reputation and Trust

Your verified account becomes your reputation:

• On-chain history proves your track record as a creator

• Buyers can see your complete filmography and rights management

• Transparent distribution builds trust with collaborators

• Verified creator status differentiates you from AI content mills

4. Future-Proof IP Protection

As AI capabilities advance, cryptographic provenance remains unbreakable:

• Blockchain records survive platform changes and corporate failures

• Immutable records provide permanent proof of ownership

• Decentralised infrastructure ensures your proof exists forever

• Legal frameworks increasingly recognise blockchain evidence

The AI Arms Race: Why Traditional Systems Can’t Compete

Centralised Platforms Are Vulnerable

Traditional content platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and even studio servers have critical weaknesses:

• No Cryptographic Identity: User accounts can be hacked, impersonated, or compromised

• Mutable Records: Platform administrators can alter timestamps, metadata, and ownership records

• Platform Dependency: If the platform shuts down, your proof of ownership disappears

• No Cross-Platform Verification: Content uploaded to multiple platforms has no unified provenance chain

Blockchain Is Unforgeable

Hiway’s blockchain foundation provides:

• Decentralisation: No single entity can alter records or shut down the system

• Immutability: Once recorded, provenance data cannot be changed or deleted

• Transparency: Records can be verified without trusting a central authority

• Interoperability: Provenance follows your content across any platform or distribution channel

AI Detection Alone Isn’t Enough

Whilst AI detection tools (spotting synthetic media) are improving, they have limitations:

• Arms Race: As detection improves, generation improves faster

• False Positives: Legitimate content sometimes flagged as AI-generated

• No Proof of Ownership: Detection tools can spot fakes but can’t prove who owns the real version

• Reactive, Not Proactive: Detection happens after content is created and distributed

Hiway’s approach is proactive: Establish provenance at creation, making fake content provably illegitimate from the start.

Where We Are Now: Building the Future of Content Authenticity

Current Capabilities

Hiway already provides:

• Secure Account Infrastructure: Verified creator accounts with robust authentication

• Blockchain-Backed Streaming: Your content is stored and delivered through blockchain infrastructure

• Immutable Registration: Content receives cryptographic hashing and blockchain timestamping

• Anti-Piracy Protection: Advanced fingerprinting and monitoring systems

• Professional Distribution: Full workflow from upload to global delivery

The Roadmap: Web3 Ownership

We’re building towards full decentralised ownership:

• Publisher Web3 Wallets: Direct wallet connectivity for ultimate ownership control (coming soon)

• Self-Sovereign Identity: You’ll control your identity and content through your own wallet

• Public Verification APIs: Anyone will be able to verify content authenticity independently

• Smart Contract Licensing: Fully automated rights management and royalty distribution

• Cross-Platform Provenance: Your blockchain record will follow content everywhere

Why we’re building incrementally: We’re ensuring each layer is robust, secure, and legally defensible before adding the next. The foundation - blockchain registration and immutable provenance - is already in place.

Implementation: Getting Started with Blockchain-Backed Provenance

Step 1: Create Your Verified Account

• Sign up through Hiway’s secure account creation process

• Complete identity verification (optional but recommended for maximum legal protection)

• Your account becomes your cryptographic signature for all content

Step 2: Register Your Existing Catalogue

• Upload master files to Hiway’s blockchain-backed infrastructure

• Each file is hashed and registered with immutable timestamps

• Metadata (cast, crew, rights) is cryptographically bound to the content

• Historical content receives provenance records from the upload date

Step 3: Establish Ongoing Provenance

• All new content automatically registers upon upload

• Edits and versions are tracked with your account signature

• Collaborators can be added with verified access

• Distribution agreements are recorded on-chain

Step 4: Leverage Provenance for Distribution

• Share blockchain-verified content with buyers and distributors

• Use immutable records to accelerate licensing negotiations

• Display “Blockchain-Verified” status on promotional materials

• Build reputation through transparent, verifiable content history

Legal and Regulatory Advantages

Admissibility in Court

Blockchain evidence is increasingly recognised in legal proceedings:

• United States: Multiple courts have accepted blockchain records as evidence

• European Union: GDPR-compliant blockchain implementations are legally valid

• United Kingdom: Law Commission recognises cryptographic signatures as legally binding

• China: Supreme Court ruled blockchain evidence admissible in 2018

Automated Copyright Support

Hiway’s blockchain records support copyright registration:

• U.S. Copyright Office: Blockchain records support registration applications

• WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organisation accepts blockchain timestamps

• Automatic Documentation: Generate legally compliant copyright documentation from blockchain data

Dispute Resolution

When ownership is contested:

• Immutable Evidence: Blockchain records provide clear, tamper-proof proof

• Reduced Legal Costs: Cryptographic verification eliminates need for expensive forensic analysis

• Faster Resolution: Courts can verify ownership through blockchain records rather than months of discovery

• Deterrent Effect: Potential infringers know provenance is unforgeable, reducing frivolous claims

The Competitive Advantage: Why Hiway’s Approach Is Unique

Other Platforms

Many platforms claim blockchain integration, but lack true provenance:

• NFT Marketplaces: Focus on collectibles, not professional content distribution

• Generic Blockchain Storage: Provide hashing but no identity binding or rights management

• Centralised Platforms with Blockchain Marketing: Use blockchain as a buzzword, not true decentralisation

Hiway’s Differentiators

1. Identity-Bound Provenance: Content is cryptographically linked to your verified account, not just stored

2. Professional Distribution: Built for film industry workflows, not hobbyists or collectors

3. Blockchain-Native Architecture: Content storage and streaming run on blockchain infrastructure

4. AI-Specific Protection: Designed to combat deepfakes and synthetic media, not just traditional piracy

5. Legal Integration: Provenance records are formatted for copyright offices and legal proceedings

6. Incremental Innovation: Building Web3 ownership layer by layer, ensuring security and reliability

The Future: AI-Resistant Content Ecosystems

Platform Integration

Hiway is working towards:

• Pre-Upload Verification: Platforms will check provenance before allowing content uploads

• Verified Creator Badges: Display cryptographic verification to audiences

• Automated Takedowns: AI-generated fakes will be flagged and removed automatically

• Revenue Protection: Only blockchain-verified creators will receive monetisation

Industry Standards

Hiway’s provenance model is positioned to become the standard:

• Film Festivals: Moving towards requiring blockchain provenance for submissions

• Distributors: Increasingly preferring content with verified ownership chains

• Insurance: Lower premiums expected for content with cryptographic protection

• Investors: Valuing catalogues with clear, immutable provenance

AI Collaboration, Not Competition

Ironically, AI will also help protect content:

• AI-Powered Monitoring: Neural networks scan for unauthorised copies 24/7

• Automated Verification: AI checks provenance records across platforms

• Smart Detection: AI triggers alerts when fake content is detected

• Predictive Protection: AI identifies emerging threats before they spread

The Bottom Line: Authenticity Is Your Competitive Advantage

In an era where AI can generate infinite fake content, provenance is the new scarcity.

Hiway’s blockchain-backed single source of truth doesn’t just protect your content - it transforms authenticity into a strategic asset. When every file you create carries an unforgeable cryptographic signature linked to your verified identity, you’re not just defending against fakes; you’re building a reputation that AI can never replicate.

What You Gain

• Cryptographic Ownership: Blockchain-backed proof that only you can provide

• Immutable Records: Timestamps and hashes that can never be altered or deleted

• Legal Protection: Evidence that accelerates dispute resolution and deters infringement

• Premium Positioning: Verified content commands higher prices in an AI-saturated market

• Future-Proof Security: As AI advances, your provenance remains unbreakable

• Peace of Mind: Focus on creating, knowing your work is protected by mathematics

The Choice Is Clear

You can compete in an AI-flooded marketplace where anyone can claim to be you, or you can establish cryptographic provenance that proves you’re the real creator.

Traditional platforms offer storage. Hiway offers cryptographic certainty.

Ready to prove your content is real in a world of AI fakes?

Join Hiway’s BETA and establish your blockchain-backed single source of truth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a crypto wallet to use Hiway?

Not yet. Currently, you create a standard verified account. We’re building Web3 wallet connectivity for the future, which will give you even greater control and ownership.

Can I register content I created before joining Hiway?

Yes. Historical content can be registered with blockchain records showing the upload date to Hiway. Whilst you can’t backdate to original creation, you establish the earliest possible blockchain record, which is legally significant.

Does blockchain-backed provenance work internationally?

Yes. Blockchain operates globally, and cryptographic signatures are recognised across jurisdictions. Hiway’s provenance records are admissible in courts worldwide.

How much does blockchain registration cost?

Blockchain registration is included in your Hiway subscription. There are no per-upload fees - provenance is built into the platform.

Can collaborators and production companies use this?

Absolutely. Hiway supports multi-user accounts, allowing multiple stakeholders to access and manage content. This creates a collaborative provenance chain proving all parties’ involvement.

What if someone steals my content before I register it on Hiway?

Blockchain provenance is most effective when established at creation. However, even if content leaks before registration, establishing provenance immediately gives you legal standing to pursue takedowns and damages.

Is my content actually stored on the blockchain?

Your content is stored and delivered through blockchain infrastructure, with cryptographic hashes and metadata recorded on-chain. This provides the security and immutability of blockchain without the cost and inefficiency of storing large video files directly on-chain.

Introduction

In the film industry, “lost in translation” often means lost profit-and lost content to pirates. Having a Single Source of Truth isn’t just a technical preference - it’s a business necessity that protects your intellectual property whilst eliminating digital chaos.

For decades, the film industry has operated in fragmented disorder. Master files scatter across hard drives, download links expire at critical moments, and multiple versions live on unsecure cloud servers-creating perfect conditions for content piracy and unauthorised distribution. According to industry data, video piracy exceeds 200 billion annual views, costing the global economy up to £90 billion yearly.

Hiway acts as your ultimate control panel and anti-piracy fortress, ensuring your master file is the only version that matters whilst creating an immutable, tamper-proof record that prevents unauthorised duplication.

Here’s why establishing a single source of truth is the backbone of the content revolution:

1. Eliminate Version Fatigue and Prevent Distribution Leaks

The Problem: Endless copies, massive downloads, and the dreaded “final_v2_edit_REAL_final” email chains don’t just create confusion-they create piracy vulnerabilities. When multiple versions circulate, the risk of distributors using the wrong file increases, and unauthorised copies leak through unsecure channels.

The Solution: With Hiway, you share a single SmartLink. This link directs everyone-from distribution partners and sales agencies to your global fanbase-to the same high-fidelity source. Update the master once, and the truth updates everywhere, instantly.

Anti-Piracy Benefits:

• Single authoritative version eliminates leak points

• No downloadable files floating on unsecure servers

• Instant revocation of access if security is compromised

• Complete control over who accesses your content and when

• Real-time monitoring of all access attempts

2. Blockchain Anti-Piracy Protection: Immutable IP Security and Provenance

The Problem: Traditional cloud storage leaves content vulnerable to piracy, disputes, leaks, and ownership challenges. The music industry alone loses £2.1 billion yearly to unauthorised distribution, whilst independent filmmakers face devastating revenue leaks from illegal streaming and torrent sites.

The Solution: Storing content on decentralised blockchain technology creates an immutable, tamper-proof record of ownership that serves as your first line of defence against piracy. On Hiway, your IP resides in a secure, decentralised environment that you alone control.

Blockchain Anti-Piracy Features:

• Cryptographic Hashing: Every file receives a unique digital fingerprint that cannot be forged or altered

• On-Chain Registration: Ownership is recorded permanently on the blockchain with creator details and timestamp

• Immutable Provenance: Creates an unforgeable chain of custody proving original ownership

• Watermarking Integration: Invisible blockchain-anchored watermarks trace any unauthorised copies back to the source

• Digital Rights Management (DRM): Blockchain-based DRM prevents unauthorised copying, sharing, and distribution

• Automated Takedown Capability: Pirated copies can be traced, flagged, and removed with blockchain proof of ownership

How It Stops Piracy:

Traditional piracy thrives on ambiguity-disputed ownership, untraceable files, and slow legal processes. Blockchain eliminates these vulnerabilities by providing instant, verifiable proof of ownership that holds up in legal proceedings and enables rapid content removal from pirate sites.

3. Real-Time Anti-Piracy Monitoring and Global Content Visibility

The Problem: In traditional distribution models, once you send a file, you lose visibility-and control. You’re left guessing who’s watching, where unauthorised copies are circulating, and how pirates are distributing your content.

The Solution: When everyone accesses the same blockchain-secured source, you gain perfect visibility and anti-piracy intelligence. Track who is watching, what they’re watching, where they’re located, and exactly how they’re engaging with your content-all from one centralised dashboard.

Anti-Piracy Intelligence:

• Geographic Access Tracking: Identify unusual viewing patterns that indicate piracy

• Unauthorised Access Detection: Instant alerts when access attempts occur outside authorised channels

• Fingerprinting Technology: Each file carries a unique digital ID for automatic piracy detection

• AI-Powered Monitoring: Automated scanning of torrent sites, streaming platforms, and social media for unauthorised copies

• Takedown Notice Automation: Generate legally compliant DMCA requests with blockchain proof

• Real-Time Reporting: Export detailed, legally verifiable reports for law enforcement or prosecution

What You’ll See:

• Real-time viewership data across authorised channels

• Geographic distribution of legitimate audiences

• Engagement metrics and drop-off points

• Suspicious access attempts or unusual distribution patterns

• Unified anti-piracy reporting dashboard

• No more conflicting data or “napkin reports”

4. Piracy-Proof Monetisation: Automated Royalty Splits and Protected Revenue Streams

The Problem: Traditional royalty accounting isn’t just plagued by delays and “creative accounting”-it’s vulnerable to piracy-related revenue loss. When unauthorised copies circulate, creators lose not just immediate sales but long-term licensing and streaming revenue.

The Solution: A blockchain-based single source of truth powers piracy-proof, instant payments. Because there’s only one authoritative version with immutable usage tracking, payments flow accurately and automatically whilst unauthorised usage is prevented.

How It Works:

• The moment a viewer hits play or purchase on an authorised platform, revenue is divided

• Smart contracts automatically split payments according to your contracts

• No friction, delays, or accounting disputes

• Complete transparency for all stakeholders

• Piracy prevention: Only authorised plays trigger payments-eliminating revenue loss from unauthorised views

Revenue Protection:

• Unauthorised copies cannot generate payments through your system

• Blockchain proof enables revenue recovery from platforms hosting pirated content

• Automated royalty tracking ensures you’re compensated for every legitimate view

• Transparent audit trail for licensing disputes

5. Advanced Anti-Piracy Technologies Built into Hiway’s Single Source of Truth

Hiway integrates multiple layers of anti-piracy protection that work together to safeguard your content:

Content Protection Stack:

• Encryption: Military-grade encryption locks content during storage and transmission

• Blockchain Watermarking: Invisible, blockchain-anchored identifiers embedded in every frame

• Access Control: Multi-factor authentication and granular permission settings

• Geo-Blocking: Restrict content access by territory to enforce regional rights

• Time-Limited Access: Automatically expire viewing permissions after set periods

• Device Fingerprinting: Track and limit the number of devices accessing content

AI-Powered Piracy Detection:

• Automated Content Scanning: AI scans the web for unauthorised copies 24/7

• Frame-by-Frame Analysis: Neural networks identify your content even when cropped, filtered, or re-encoded

• Audio Fingerprinting: Acoustic algorithms detect your content in re-uploaded videos

• Social Media Monitoring: Track mentions and shares across platforms to identify leak sources

• Torrent Site Surveillance: Continuous monitoring of peer-to-peer networks

Legal & Compliance Tools:

• One-Click Copyright Registration: Auto-generate WIPO-compliant certificates using blockchain hashes

• DMCA Takedown Automation: Generate legally precise takedown notices with blockchain proof

• Regional Rights Management: Enforce territorial licensing with geo-blocking and access controls

• Audit Trail Generation: Export detailed reports for legal proceedings

The Bottom Line: Take Back Control and Stop Piracy

The “Walled Garden” model and fragmented supply chain weren’t just designed to keep creators in the dark-they created the perfect environment for piracy to thrive. Hiway was built by industry veterans who understand these pain points and decided to fix them.

By providing a single, decentralised, piracy-proof source for your IP, we give you the tools to succeed in a system that was designed to make you fail.

What You Gain:

• Eliminate piracy vulnerabilities through blockchain-secured distribution

• Protect revenue streams with automated, tamper-proof royalty tracking

• Maintain complete control over who accesses your content and when

• Instant piracy detection and automated takedown capabilities

• Legal protection with immutable proof of ownership

• Peace of mind knowing your content is secure from creation to consumption

Ready to stop the copy-paste madness, eliminate piracy threats, and protect your legacy?

Test Drive the Hiway and establish your piracy-proof single source of truth.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Single Source of Truth in film distribution?

A Single Source of Truth means having one authoritative, blockchain-secured master file that all stakeholders access, eliminating version confusion, piracy vulnerabilities, and ensuring everyone works from the same high-quality, protected source.

How does blockchain prevent film piracy?

Blockchain creates an immutable, tamper-proof record of ownership with cryptographic hashing that serves as unforgeable proof of IP rights. This enables instant piracy detection, automated takedown notices, and legal protection against unauthorised distribution.

What anti-piracy technologies does Hiway use?

Hiway combines blockchain watermarking, cryptographic hashing, AI-powered content scanning, digital rights management (DRM), geo-blocking, access control, and automated DMCA takedown generation to create a comprehensive anti-piracy protection system.

Can blockchain stop content from being pirated completely?

Whilst no system can guarantee 100% piracy prevention, blockchain significantly reduces piracy by eliminating leak points, providing instant detection of unauthorised copies, enabling rapid takedowns, and creating legal proof of ownership that accelerates enforcement.

How do I track who watches my content on Hiway?

Hiway provides real-time analytics showing authorised viewers, their locations, engagement metrics, and viewing behaviour-plus anti-piracy intelligence that flags suspicious access patterns and unauthorised distribution attempts.

What happens if someone pirates my content on Hiway?

Hiway’s blockchain watermarking traces pirated copies back to their source, generates automated DMCA takedown notices with blockchain proof of ownership, and provides legally verifiable reports for enforcement actions.

How do automated royalty splits work with anti-piracy protection?

When a viewer plays or purchases your content through authorised channels, revenue is automatically divided according to your smart contracts. Unauthorised plays cannot trigger payments, protecting your revenue streams from piracy-related losses.

What is blockchain watermarking?

Blockchain watermarking embeds invisible, cryptographic identifiers into your content that are anchored on the blockchain. These watermarks survive copying, compression, and editing-enabling you to trace any unauthorised copy back to its source.

Does Hiway monitor torrent sites and pirate platforms?

Yes. Hiway’s AI-powered monitoring continuously scans torrent sites, illegal streaming platforms, social media, and file-sharing networks to detect unauthorised copies of your content and initiate takedown procedures.

How quickly can pirated content be removed?

With blockchain proof of ownership, Hiway can generate legally compliant takedown notices immediately upon detection. Removal speed depends on the platform hosting the pirated content, but blockchain evidence significantly accelerates the process compared to traditional methods.

Tags: #AntiPiracy #BlockchainSecurity #FilmDistribution #ContentProtection #DigitalRightsManagement #IPProtection #SingleSourceOfTruth #BlockchainWatermarking #IndieFilm #Filmmaking2026 #Hiway #PiracyPrevention

Introduction

The world of video content moves fast, and we’ve been moving even faster. Over the past few weeks, we’ve rolled out a wave of features designed with one goal in mind: giving content owners total control over their assets without adding unnecessary complexity.

Whether you’re managing a single feature film or a massive video library, here’s what’s now live on Hiway - your professional video content management platform, with all your tools in one place.

1. Centralised Video Content Management: Your Complete CMS

We’ve introduced a full-featured video CMS that allows you to manage every asset for your project in one centralised workspace. No more scattered files, expired download links, or version chaos.

Smart Clipping Technology

Create clips directly from master files and share them via SmartLinks - without duplicating files or wasting storage. This intelligent clipping system maintains your single source of truth whilst enabling flexible content distribution.

Benefits:

• Instant clip creation from any master file

• Zero file duplication across your library

• Seamless SmartLink integration for instant sharing

• Maintain quality without re-encoding

Dynamic Rights Control

Delete or restrict content instantly as rights windows change. Whether managing territorial restrictions, time-limited licences, or evolving distribution agreements, Hiway’s dynamic rights management gives you instant control.

Key Features:

• Instant content removal when rights expire

• Geo-blocking and territorial restrictions

• Time-limited access controls

• Automated rights window enforcement

Global Subtitle Management

Upload and manage multiple subtitle files per title to reach international audiences. Support for SRT, VTT, and all major subtitle formats ensures your content is accessible worldwide.

Subtitle Capabilities:

• Multi-language subtitle support

• Automatic subtitle synchronisation

• Closed captioning for accessibility

• Real-time subtitle switching

2. Flexible Video Monetisation and Distribution: Turn Views into Revenue

We’re making it easier than ever to monetise video content across multiple revenue streams. From subscriptions for ongoing collections to rentals for transactional access, the choice is yours.

Multiple Monetisation Models

Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD)

Build recurring revenue with subscription-based access to your content library. Perfect for series, educational content, and exclusive member collections.

Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD)

Enable pay-per-view streaming and rental models with customisable pricing, viewing windows, and promotional codes.

Hybrid Monetisation

Combine subscription and transactional models to maximise revenue. Offer premium content as rentals whilst building a subscription base for your catalogue.

Growth Tools Built In

Referral Systems

Leverage your audience to drive growth with built-in referral tracking and reward systems. Automatically attribute new subscribers to referring users and manage commission structures.

Discount Codes and Promotions

Control rates, promo codes, and viewing windows with advanced promotional tools built directly into the platform. Create time-limited offers, bundle discounts, and exclusive access codes.

Professional B2B Distribution

SmartRooms for Screeners

Our new SmartRooms allow you to curate professional collections for screeners, sales agents, or paywalled experiences-all via a refreshed, ultra-clean SmartLink interface.

SmartRooms Features:

• Password-protected screening rooms

• Customisable branding and layouts

• Granular access controls per viewer

• Real-time viewing analytics

• Professional presentation for sales and distribution

3. Power Tools for Professional Video Teams

Large-scale production requires enterprise-grade tools. We’ve built features specifically for professional video hosting and high-volume content operations.

Hiway Sync: Desktop App for Massive Uploads

Our new desktop application is designed specifically for massive file uploads (40GB+). Hiway Sync handles large video files with resume-on-error capability, background uploading, and automatic metadata syncing.

Hiway Sync Capabilities:

• Upload files over 40GB without browser limitations

• Background uploading whilst you work

• Automatic retry and resume on network interruptions

• Batch upload hundreds of files simultaneously

• Folder structure preservation

• Metadata auto-detection and tagging

Granular Team Permissions

Manage your team with multi-user access control including role-based permissions for external partners, collaborators, and contractors.

Permission Levels:

• Upload-Only Access: Perfect for production partners who deliver content but don’t need full library access

• View-Only Access: For stakeholders who need visibility without editing rights

• Editor Access: Full content management without administrative controls

• Admin Access: Complete platform control including billing and user management

Team Collaboration Features:

• Assign specific projects to team members

• Track who uploaded, edited, or deleted content

• Audit trail for all platform activities

• External partner access without sharing master accounts

API Access: Build Your Own Ecosystem

For those building custom workflows and integrations, you can now pull Hiway content directly into your own apps or sites via our comprehensive API.

API Capabilities:

• RESTful API: Standard HTTP endpoints for all platform operations

• Webhook Support: Real-time notifications for upload completion, encoding status, and viewer activity

• Metadata Management: Programmatic access to all content metadata

• Publishing Workflows: Automate content distribution across platforms

• Analytics Integration: Pull viewing data into your own dashboards and reporting tools

Use Cases:

• Integrate Hiway content into existing CMS platforms

• Build custom publishing workflows with marketing automation tools

• Create white-label video experiences powered by Hiway infrastructure

• Automate content syndication to partner platforms

• Connect viewing analytics to CRM systems for lead scoring

What’s Coming Next: The Future of Video Distribution

We aren’t slowing down. Very soon, we’ll be launching features that further cement Hiway as the professional video platform for the blockchain era.

Content Syndication

Automatically distribute your content to partner platforms, streaming services, and licensing partners with automated syndication feeds. Set rules once, distribute everywhere.

Live Streaming via SmartLinks

Broadcast live events directly through SmartLinks with the same security, analytics, and monetisation capabilities you expect from Hiway’s on-demand infrastructure.

White-Label Platform Option

Power your own branded video platform in clicks. Launch a fully customised streaming service with your branding, domain, and design - powered by the Hiway.

Coming Features:

• Custom domain mapping

• Complete brand customisation

• Native mobile app support

• Advanced analytics dashboards

• Multi-currency payment processing

Why These Updates Matter: The Professional Video Platform Difference

The difference between basic cloud storage and a professional video hosting platform comes down to three questions:

1. Can it scale with your content output? Professional teams publish daily - sometimes hundreds of videos per day. Hiway handles high-volume operations without throttling or complexity.

2. Does it treat video as a business? Basic platforms store files. Hiway manages your video content business with monetisation, distribution, analytics, and protection built in.

3. Can you maintain control whilst scaling distribution? With SmartLinks, API access, and granular permissions, you control exactly who sees what, when, and how - across unlimited distribution channels.

Built by Creators, for Creators

If you’re already using Hiway, thank you for the feedback that built these features. Every update comes from real conversations with filmmakers, distributors, and content creators who told us what they needed to succeed.

If you’re new here, there’s never been a better time to start.

Ready to take control of your content?

Test Drive the Hiway and experience the future of video distribution.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Hiway different from other video hosting platforms?

Hiway combines blockchain security with professional video CMS features, creating a single source of truth for your content. Unlike basic cloud storage, Hiway treats video as a business with built-in monetisation, anti-piracy protection, and global distribution tools.

Can I upload large video files over 40GB?

Yes. Hiway Sync, our desktop application, is specifically designed for massive file uploads with resume-on-error capability and background uploading.

What monetisation models does Hiway support?

Hiway supports subscription video on demand (SVOD), transactional video on demand (TVOD), pay-per-view, rentals, and hybrid models. You can also implement referral systems and promotional discount codes.

How does the API access work?

Hiway provides RESTful API access with webhook support, allowing you to integrate content into your own apps, automate publishing workflows, and build custom video experiences powered by Hiway’s infrastructure.

What are SmartRooms?

SmartRooms are password-protected, professionally branded screening rooms perfect for sales agents, distributors, and B2B presentations. They provide granular access controls and viewing analytics.

Can I manage team permissions?

Yes. Hiway offers role-based access control including upload-only, view-only, editor, and admin permissions-perfect for managing external partners and large teams.

Does Hiway support subtitles and closed captions?

Yes. Upload and manage multiple subtitle files per title in all major formats (SRT, VTT) with automatic synchronisation and real-time switching.

How does blockchain protect my content?

Hiway uses blockchain to create immutable ownership records, cryptographic watermarking, and automated piracy detection-providing legal proof of ownership and enabling rapid takedown of unauthorised copies.

What’s coming in future updates?

We’re launching content syndication, live streaming via SmartLinks, and white-label platform options that let you launch your own branded streaming service powered by Hiway.

How do I get started with Hiway?

Head to onthehiway.com or arrange a call on onthehiway.com/get-a-demo to access all features and help shape the future of video distribution.

#VideoContentManagement #VideoCMS #ContentMonetisation #VideoDistribution #APIIntegration #VideoHosting #BlockchainVideo #SmartLinks #ProfessionalVideo #VideoTech2026 #HiwayBETA #ContentCreators #FilmDistribution

David Orman

Co-Founder & CEO

The speed of change in the media right now isn’t evolutionary. It’s tectonic.

Artificial intelligence is rewriting how content is created, distributed, discovered, and monetised at a pace the industry has never experienced. Whilst headlines focus on what AI can generate, the deeper disruption is happening elsewhere: in who controls the relationship with the audience.

Broadcast media, studios, and legacy platforms are feeling it first. Not because they lack talent or capital, but because digital transformation inside large organisations still moves too slowly for a world that now updates itself weekly.

AI doesn’t wait for committees.

The Real Challenge Isn’t AI. It’s Speed.

Big media companies were built for stability. For schedules, release windows, hierarchies, and long planning cycles. AI is built for speed.

When algorithms can iterate faster than internal approvals, the advantage shifts. Not to the biggest balance sheet, but to whoever can move content into the world quickly, test it, learn from it, and adapt.

The Old Media Playbook:

• 12-18 month production cycles

• Fixed release windows

• Multi-layer approval processes

• Annual strategy reviews

• Quarterly performance targets

The New Reality:

• Weekly algorithm updates

• Real-time audience feedback

• Instant global distribution

• Daily performance data

• Continuous iteration

That’s why the old saying has never been more relevant:

Content is king. But distribution is the throne.

And the throne is moving.

AI Can Create Content. It Cannot Create Gravity.

AI can generate scripts, trailers, edits, thumbnails, and translations. It can remix formats and optimise metadata. It can flood the internet with material.

What it cannot do is create pull.

What Still Draws Audiences:

• Live sport - Unpredictable moments that demand real-time attention

• Reality TV - Genuine human drama and unexpected developments

• Recognisable talent - Actors, presenters, and personalities people trust

• Independent creators - Authentic voices with devoted communities

• Stories with stakes - Narratives where outcomes genuinely matter

Audiences still gather around people, moments, and meaning. The difference now is that discovery no longer happens in one place. Fans don’t live on a single platform. They move fluidly across the internet, devices, and communities.

The job is no longer just to make content. It’s to find the audience wherever they already are.

This is where AI becomes an accelerant rather than a threat.

How AI Helps Content Owners:

• Personalised recommendations - Match content to niche audiences at scale

• Automated localisation - Translate and adapt for global markets instantly

• Metadata optimisation - Make content discoverable across platforms

• Audience insights - Understand viewing patterns and preferences in real-time

• Marketing automation - Test and optimise promotional campaigns continuously

The technology amplifies reach. But the content still determines whether anyone cares.

Direct-to-Fan Is Not a Trend. It’s a Correction.

For years, platforms promised scale in exchange for control. Content owners gave up data, pricing power, rights visibility, and long-term relationships for reach.

That trade-off is breaking down.

What Content Owners Lost:

• Audience data - No way to know who’s watching or how to reach them again

• Pricing control - Platforms dictated what content was worth

• Revenue transparency - Opaque algorithms determined payouts

• Direct relationships - No connection between creator and consumer

• Rights flexibility - Locked into exclusive windows and territories

What AI Makes Possible:

AI has made it possible to distribute, personalise, and market content without surrendering ownership. Direct-to-fan isn’t about replacing platforms. It’s about rebalancing power.

• Own your audience - Build direct relationships, not platform-dependent reach

• Own your data - Understand viewing behaviour and preferences

• Own your revenue - Set pricing and keep more of what you earn

• Own your rights - Control where, when, and how content appears

When content owners control the relationship, AI becomes a tool that works for them. It helps content get found. It helps identify demand. It helps connect stories to the people most likely to care.

But the value flows back to the rights holder, not the intermediary.

The Infrastructure Behind Content Ownership

For decades, the industry treated distribution as a gate. AI has turned it into a network.

That’s why infrastructure matters more than ever. Not platforms that sit in front of content, but systems that sit behind it.

What Content Owners Need:

• Fast deployment - Upload once, distribute everywhere

• Global collaboration - Work with teams across territories seamlessly

• Rights management - Respect release windows and geographic restrictions automatically

• Local pricing - Set different rates for different markets

• Real-time analytics - See what’s working and what isn’t, immediately

• Flexible access control - Move between free, paid, and exclusive access without rebuilding

Hiway exists because of this shift.

We don’t compete with broadcasters, streamers, or social platforms. We give content owners the keys back to their own kingdom. We let them decide how their work moves, earns, and connects in an AI-accelerated world.

Your content lives in one place. You control who sees it-public preview, paid access, private screeners, or festival submissions-without duplicating files or losing track of rights.

The Future Isn’t AI vs Creators. It’s Creators Who Know How to Use AI.

AI will not replace the people who make content worth watching.

It will replace the systems that slow them down.

The winners in the next phase of media will be those who understand one simple truth:

AI changes how content travels. But content still decides who shows up.

What This Means in Practice:

• Traditional media must adopt creator-speed workflows or lose relevance

• Independent creators can compete with studios using AI-powered distribution

• Rights holders gain leverage by controlling audience relationships directly

• Platforms become utilities rather than gatekeepers

• Quality storytelling remains the differentiator AI cannot replicate

Direct-to-fan isn’t a rebellion. It’s an inevitability.

And in an industry moving this fast, ownership is no longer optional.

For independent film, one truth never changes.

Every film has to be financed.
Every investor expects a return.

For decades, the industry answer was simple: make the film, take it to market, and hope someone else takes responsibility for the audience.

That model is breaking.

Today, independent film companies are entering a new era, one where self-distribution is no longer a last resort, but a core part of how films are financed, marketed, and sustained.

Not because producers want to replace distributors or platforms, but because control of the story has become essential to survival.

Financing Has Always Been the Real Pressure Point

Every independent film starts the same way. A script. A vision. And then the hardest part: raising the money.

Financiers ask the same questions every time:

Who is the audience?
How will the film reach them?
What proof do you have that this will make money?

For years, the answer relied on reputation, sales estimates, comps, and the promise of future distribution. But the market has changed. Pre-sales are harder. Guarantees are rarer. Platform deals are unpredictable.

What investors increasingly want is evidence.

Not just belief in the film, but proof that the production company understands how to build demand, reach audiences, and monetise directly if needed.

That means producers can no longer wait until the film is finished to think about distribution. The story now starts at conception.

Control the Story, or Someone Else Will

Owning your destiny as an independent producer means controlling more than the film itself.

It means controlling how the film is talked about, discovered, shared, and sold.

That starts early. From development onward, producers who build visibility, capture interest, and grow an audience are no longer just making a film. They’re building an asset.

An audience becomes leverage.
Data becomes proof.
Direct revenue becomes the natural outcome.

And there follows a return on investment.

Without that foundation, filmmakers remain dependent on gatekeepers, algorithms, and timing they can’t influence.

With it, everything changes. Everyone’s a winner.

Why Discovery Still Pushes Everyone Toward Big Platforms

Let’s be honest. The reason filmmakers flock to the big streaming platforms isn’t love, it’s discovery.

Those platforms have reach. They have scale. They ‘suggest’ discoverability in a crowded world.

But a streaming deal alone doesn’t equal sustainability or future success. When a platform deal doesn’t happen, or when a film is licensed without meaningful data or long-term upside, producers are left back where they started, with a finished film and no direct relationship to the audience that watched it.

That’s the gap independent film is now trying to close.

Not by abandoning platforms, but by building a parallel path.

The Internet Has Changed. Discovery Has Too.

We’re entering a different phase of the internet.

In an era shaped by AI, search, social signals, and community-driven discovery, content is becoming more findable, not less, provided the foundations are in place.

Audiences don’t just discover films on one platform anymore. They find them through clips, conversations, creators, festivals, newsletters, niche communities, and recommendations that spread across the internet.

The opportunity now is to meet audiences where they already are, not force them into a single destination.

But to do that, producers need tools that let them publish, price, market, and measure their films on their own terms.

Why Self-Distribution Is Becoming a Strategy, Not a Risk

Self-distribution today doesn’t mean doing everything alone.

It means having the option.

It means choosing which territories to release into, setting prices by market, testing demand, building a database, and communicating directly with people who care about the work.

Do that once, and you learn.
Do it twice, and you build momentum.
Do it across a slate or a series, and you build a business.

Each release strengthens the next.
Each audience compounds.
Each film becomes proof for the next financier.

That’s why self-distribution is no longer just about revenue. It’s about credibility.

Why Film Markets Like EFM and Berlinale Matter More Than Ever

Film markets haven’t gone away. If anything, they matter more.

But the producers who stand out now aren’t the ones asking permission. They’re the ones showing preparedness.

Turning up to EFM, Berlinale, Cannes or AFM with a Hiway account means you can demonstrate, not explain:

• Your films are ready to launch
• Your audience strategy exists
• Your data is owned by you
• Your monetisation doesn’t depend on one deal

You’re no longer pitching hope. You’re pitching control.

That changes conversations with sales agents, distributors, and investors alike.

Where Hiway Fits In

Hiway exists to support this shift.

Not to replace distributors.
Not to compete with platforms.
But to give independent producers the infrastructure to run their content business themselves.

With Hiway, producers can:

• Upload once and distribute anywhere
• Set pricing by territory and release window
• Build and own audience databases
• Monetise directly when needed
• Share secure screeners for finance and sales
• Track performance and revenue in real time

It’s a system designed to support independent film at every stage, from development to financing to release.

The Bigger Picture

Independent film has always been about independence. But for too long, control stopped at the creative level.

Now, control is extending into distribution, data, and revenue.

The producers who embrace that shift won’t just survive the next decade. They’ll define it.

Because in a market this competitive, owning your story isn’t optional anymore.

It’s the business.

Who Really Owns Your Film Online?

If you make films, series, documentaries or any kind of digital media today, you’ve probably had that uneasy moment after uploading a video, sharing a screener or signing a deal:

“Do I still own this - or did I just hand it away?”

In the streaming era, the answer isn’t as clear as it should be. On paper, you keep content ownership. In practice, long licences, vague clauses, opaque reporting and platform control can leave you with far less power than you think. And earlier this year, the creative world got a stark reminder of how fragile creator rights and digital content rights can be.

When a Free Platform Claims Rights to Your Work

In mid-2025, WeTransfer quietly updated its Terms of Service, and buried inside was a clause that shocked filmmakers, designers, photographers and rights holders everywhere.

A perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable licence to reproduce, modify, distribute, publicly display and even use uploaded files for machine-learning and AI training. This raised serious concerns about AI and intellectual property rights and the protection of media IP rights for creators.

It was broad. It was unclear. And it was enough to trigger widespread panic across the creative industries.

Artists and filmmakers began to wonder:
“If this is what a file-transfer tool can claim… What are the big platforms claiming?”

The backlash was immediate. Legal commentators called the clause overreaching. Creators called it a rights grab. Within days, WeTransfer partially rolled back the update.

But the damage was done. Creators suddenly realised how easily their content rights and user generated content rights could slip away through a single paragraph of fine print - often on a platform they’d used for years without question.

Why Should Filmmakers Care About Platform Terms and Content Rights?

If a simple transfer service can overreach this far, imagine what rights sit inside:

• streaming service delivery agreements

• aggregator contracts

• cloud-hosting policies

• screener platform terms

• social platform UGC clauses

• AI-powered media tools

These are the places where creators unknowingly grant the kind of access that reshapes their control:

1. Private screeners could be duplicated or repurposed.

2. Unreleased cuts could feed AI models.

3. Archive material could be stored, analysed or reused without consent.

4. Fan data could become platform property.

5. Monetisation could be dependent on rules you never saw.

Copyright might still be yours - but control becomes someone else’s. This is how creators “lose their rights” without ever technically losing ownership. Understanding content rights and media IP rights is essential to maintaining control over your work.

What’s the Difference Between Owning a Film and Having the Rights to It?

Content ownership is the underlying copyright. It says the film is legally yours. Content rights are the permissions you grant - the territories, windows, platforms and formats your partners can use.

Most creators assume that if they keep copyright, they keep control. But that’s not how the system works.

If you grant:

• worldwide rights

• all media

• long-term windows

• platform exclusivity

Your content ownership becomes symbolic. You own the film, but you can’t do anything with it. Across a catalogue of work, those decisions compound. Your films become scattered, locked, unusable, and often invisible. Protecting digital content rights and user generated content rights ensures your work stays under your control.

How Do Streaming Platforms Actually License Films?

Platforms rarely buy a film outright. They licence what they need. By the time a title reaches them, the rights chain is already heavily diluted:

• Producers

• Co-producers

• Sales Agents

• Distributors

• Aggregators

• Sub-distributors

Somewhere in that chain, someone may have granted broad media IP rights for years at a time - often beyond what the filmmaker understood or intended. The platform gets clarity. The creator gets distance.

Meanwhile, UGC rights - the terms behind your trailers, clips and promos - add another layer of complexity. A single behind-the-scenes clip posted years ago may still be licensed to a social platform long after your distribution strategy has changed. The right landscape is no longer linear. It’s a maze. Protecting creator rights and content rights is more important than ever in the era of AI and platform dominance.

Is There a Platform That Doesn’t Take Rights to My Film?

Hiway was born out of this exact frustration: creators need tools, not traps. Where many platforms claim broad usage licences, Hiway does not. Where others take audience data as their own, Hiway does not. Where platforms absorb content into their ecosystem, Hiway keeps creators in control of theirs.

Hiway is built on three principles:

1. You own your IP - full stop

• No perpetual licences.

• No sublicensing.

• No AI-training clauses.

• No rights creep. AI and intellectual property rights are fully respected.

2. You own your data
Every viewer, every sale, every engagement metric belongs to you - not to us.

3. You control your monetisation
TVOD, rentals, purchases, subscriptions, global or geo-blocked releases - all set by you, with payouts directly into your account.

Hiway isn’t a streaming destination. It’s the right infrastructure. A system where:

• your catalogue is organised

• your rights map stays intact

• your distribution remains flexible

• your creator rights remain powerful

• your user generated content rights are protected

• your long-term strategy isn’t sabotaged by someone else’s fine print

In short: platforms want your rights. Hiway protects them.

How Do I Protect My Film Rights Online?

The WeTransfer incident wasn’t a glitch - it was a warning. In the age of AI, cloud services and platform dominance, creator rights aren’t eroded in one dramatic moment. They fade slowly through:

• one clickwrap agreement

• one delivery requirement

• one vague upload licence

• one forgotten clause

If you care about your IP, your audience, your revenue and your long-term catalogue value, you need an infrastructure that respects content rights and digital content rights. Because once the fine print claims your rights, it’s already too late. You deserve ownership. You deserve agency. You deserve control. Welcome to Hiway.

How to Protect Your Digital Content Online: Ownership, Control and Anti-Theft Guide

Protecting creative work has become one of the most important responsibilities for filmmakers, creators, distributors and rights owners.

With the plethora of digital sharing, file transfers and streaming tools, as well as the explosion of AI video creation platforms, creators are at constant risk of losing control of what they value most - their intellectual property. How to protect your digital content online has become a critical skill in today’s Creator Economy.

The team at the Hiway wanted to share a short practical, modern approach to maintaining creator control; preventing theft and piracy, securing distribution and inevitably, protecting revenue.

These insights are built around the needs of filmmakers, sports rights owners, influencers and digital creators who publish and seek to monetise high-value content.

Why Content Ownership Matters More Than Ever

Digital content moves quickly. Once a file is uploaded, copied or distributed without protection, creators lose both control and revenue. Uploading that file many times, across many systems and technologies creates difficulties in tracking who has access to your content, creating potential piracy leaks.

Creators need to know where their files are, who has access to them for now but also for the future.

Creators who fail to maintain creator control often face issues such as piracy, unauthorised uploads, territorial violations and lost revenue opportunities. The more valuable the content, the greater the need for secure ownership and protection.

The Most Effective Ways to Protect Your Digital Content Online

Use Access Controls to Maintain Creator Control

Maintaining creator control begins with limiting how many copies of your digital work are shared through a variety of systems, platforms and most crucially, people.

Having a single source of content is the new way to control your control.
With inbuilt access controls let creators set permissions, expiration dates, passwords and audience restrictions. This makes it significantly harder for content to be copied or redistributed without approval.

Strong access settings are one of the most effective ways to protect digital content on professional and consumer-facing distribution channels.

Implement Secure Content Distribution Systems

Using secure content distribution tools helps ensure files are shared safely and monitored throughout the distribution lifecycle. Secure content distribution adds viewing restrictions, link tracking and real-time analytics.

When creators adopt secure content distribution, they reduce the chances of leaks, piracy or unauthorised reproduction.

Establish Clear Content Ownership Through Verification

A robust content ownership system tracks where the file originated, who controls rights and how it can be distributed. Ownership verification prevents disputes, protects creators during negotiations and ensures rights remain with the original content holder.

Learn How to Protect Online Content Through Controlled Viewing

Understanding how to protect online content involves managing how audiences access videos. Territory restrictions, device limits, preview gating and non-download streaming ensure content is visible but not easily duplicated.

Creators who use these methods learn exactly how to protect online content while maintaining audience reach.

How Hiway Helps Creators Protect Their Digital Content Online

Hiway was built to fix the core problem creators face: losing authority over their work once it leaves their hands. Hiway is designed to give producers, creators and rights holders full content ownership, full creator control and transparent protection of their digital assets, all managed from one unified control panel.

Hiway is not another social network or streaming platform. It is a new control panel for Filmmakers and Content Creators, to allow creators to protect digital content, control distribution and maintain ownership without fragmentation.

Creators can:

• Store everything securely in one central library, including films, trailers, clips and advertising assets

• Share anywhere using SmartLinks, both privately and publicly

• Monetise directly without middlemen or revenue loss

• Track every view, share and payment in real time

• Maintain secure content distribution with access settings, territories and licensing rules

Hiway’s workflow keeps content secure from upload to payment. Users can upload and organise their entire library, set pricing or licensing rules by territory or partner, share securely with colleagues or buyers, publish online and see exactly who watched, where and when. Payments flow directly to the creator.

Hiway offers creators:

• Total control over how their content is used

• Immutable rights records that cannot be altered

• Low, fair fees applied to earnings

• Analytics showing performance, audience and territory-level behaviour

Hiway is currently live with core features that support secure content distribution and content ownership, including secure storage, SmartLinks for controlled sharing, pay-per-view monetisation and real-time analytics. New features just launched include subscriptions, rentals, with automated royalty payments and advanced licensing tools coming soon.

Hiway is built for creators who are tired of fragmented systems, lost revenue and opaque distribution chains. It simplifies workflows and puts creators back in control.

Basically, a platform where creators keep the keys.

Every creator, filmmaker or rights owner needs a clear strategy for how to protect online content and secure long-term ownership. With increasing distribution across platforms and devices, content security is essential to protecting financial and creative value.

Creators who build strong content ownership foundations, adopt secure content distribution systems, strengthen creator control and deploy anti-theft mechanisms ensure their work remains protected before and after release. Seeing the future, the creators who invest in protection today will maintain authority, revenue and long-term sustainability tomorrow!

Independent filmmakers and small studios increasingly ask a practical question: is self- film distribution viable in 2025? With the growth of digital film distribution and the expansion of the Creator Economy, traditional distribution deals are no longer the only path to make money for your content..

More importantly, filmmakers are not turning to self distribution because it is easier. They are turning to it because it offers a clearer path to control, transparency, and long term sustainability. As digital cinema distribution continues to evolve, creators are reassessing who owns their audience, their data, and their revenue.

This article breaks down the real challenges of self-distribution, why many platforms fall short, and what independent filmmakers actually need for distribution to work in a sustainable way.

For independent filmmakers and small studios, the frustrations are consistent. Revenue is difficult to forecast. Audience data is inaccessible. Marketing effort does not translate into long term value. Distribution tools feel disconnected rather than supportive. And they are proving far from lucrative for the many.

What Are the Biggest Problems With Self Film Distribution?

At a glance, self-distribution promises flexibility and creative control. In reality, many filmmakers experience friction once their film is released and live across platforms.

The most common challenges include:

• Limited audience data. Filmmakers have not direct connection to their fans, and struggle to access real-time viewing data, leaving them not knowing who has watched or whether those viewers will return.

• Revenue leakage. Platform fees, aggregator costs, and unclear revenue splits make income unpredictable.

• Fragmented tools. Uploading, monetisation, and analytics are often spread across multiple systems.

• Marketing pressure. Uploading a film is simple, but sustaining attention requires ongoing effort.

These challenges quickly compound. Instead of spending time on creative development, filmmakers often find themselves managing distribution logistics that digital film distribution was supposed to simplify.

Why Don’t Online Film Distribution Platforms Solve These Pain Points?

When creators search for online film distribution platforms, they are usually looking for a single system that can support hosting, monetisation, rights management, and analytics.

However, many platforms are built to maximise scale rather than creator control. As a result, filmmakers often encounter structural limitations such as:

• Audience data remaining within the platform rather than with the creator

• Pricing and revenue models that lack clarity

• Platform rules that restrict flexibility

• Exposure that does not translate into long term audience relationships

This leaves creators with access to distribution, but without the infrastructure needed to grow beyond a single release.

How Does Independent Film Marketing Impact Distribution Success?

One of the most common misconceptions around self-distribution is that marketing and distribution are separate activities.

In practice, they are deeply connected:

• Distribution without marketing generates little demand

• Marketing without control creates short term reach without ownership

• Platforms with reach often rent audiences rather than enable direct relationships

This is why independent film marketing now carries much of the responsibility for distribution success. Filmmakers are required to think beyond premieres and release windows and focus instead on engagement, retention, and long term audience value.

Effective self film distribution depends not only on where a film is hosted, but on whether creators can directly engage and monetise audiences over time.

Is Digital Film Distribution Only for Big Studios?

The rise of digital film distribution and digital cinema distribution has significantly lowered barriers for independent creators. Reaching a global audience is no longer exclusive to major studios.

That said, access alone does not resolve deeper business challenges such as revenue transparency, rights retention, audience ownership, and flexible pricing. Many independent filmmakers find themselves choosing between platforms that offer reach with limited control, or tools that offer control but limited discovery.

The real issue is not whether digital distribution exists, but whether it genuinely empowers creators to manage their work as a long term asset.

How Self Film Distribution Has Changed in Recent Years

Self film distribution today looks very different from even a few years ago. The conversation has shifted from simply getting films online to building sustainable distribution systems.

More filmmakers now view distribution as infrastructure rather than a one time release decision. Audience ownership, repeat engagement, and catalogue management are becoming central concerns, particularly for studios managing multiple projects.

Digital cinema distribution is no longer limited to theatrical or transactional models. It increasingly supports flexible, creator controlled approaches that align distribution with marketing and audience development.

What Tools Do Filmmakers Actually Need for Self Distribution to Work?

Across conversations with filmmakers and independent studios, several consistent needs emerge when discussing sustainable self film distribution.

These include:

• Direct access to audience data and ongoing relationships

• Transparent and predictable revenue terms

• Flexible pricing and territory controls

• A single point of upload and content sharing

• Performance analytics tied to rentals and pay per view activity

Together, these elements allow filmmakers to move from one off releases to repeatable, audience driven distribution strategies.

Why Do Some Filmmakers Still Choose Traditional Distribution?

Traditional distribution continues to appeal to many filmmakers because it offers established infrastructure and visibility.

Common advantages include:

• Existing audience pipelines

• Larger marketing resources

• Industry recognition

• Festival and theatrical opportunities

The trade offs are well known. Filmmakers often give up control over rights, lose access to audience data, and navigate complex revenue structures.

As a result, many creators now seek approaches that preserve reach while restoring ownership rather than choosing one at the expense of the other.

Self Distribution vs Traditional Distribution in Practice

In practice, self film distribution prioritises control and long term value, while traditional distribution prioritises scale and access. One model focuses on ownership and data, the other on reach and infrastructure.

Many filmmakers adopt hybrid approaches depending on the goals of a specific project, using self distribution tools alongside traditional channels where appropriate.

How we try to solve these problems

Hiway is designed as infrastructure for modern self film distribution rather than a closed platform.

Creators can upload content once and share it anywhere using secure SmartLinks, manage monetisation and access from a single dashboard, and retain first party audience data. Flexible pricing, territory controls, and transparent analytics allow filmmakers to align digital film distribution with independent film marketing efforts.

For example, a filmmaker releasing a documentary can share a single link across festivals, newsletters, and social platforms while maintaining consistent pricing and audience insights in one place.

This approach shifts self film distribution from borrowed attention to owned systems, similar to how independent businesses manage commerce infrastructure, but built specifically for film and video.

Self film distribution is not a shortcut, and it is not a guaranteed outcome. But for independent filmmakers and studios who value control over rights, access to audience data, flexible monetisation, and a unified workflow, it can be a more sustainable alternative to traditional models.

The difference lies not in choosing self distribution alone, but in choosing the right digital film distribution infrastructure to support it.