Friend MTS, the leading provider of video content security solutions, today announced that ONE Championship™ (ONE), the world’s largest martial arts organization, has selected Friend MTS as its global social media anti-piracy partner. The agreement provides live and post-event monitoring and enforcement across social platforms – backed by open web coverage – to protect the promotion's global broadcast partnerships and direct-to-consumer (D2C) streaming business.
Headquartered in Singapore and with its content reaching fans in more than 195 countries, ONE operates a dynamic hybrid content distribution model. This approach combines licensing to premier broadcast and streaming partners alongside its own D2C streaming service. As ONE scales its D2C offering, protecting the commercial value and integrity of its premium live events across every distribution path is a critical strategic priority.
Under the multi-year agreement, Friend MTS will provide 24/7 monitoring of major social media platforms during ONE’s live events, enabling the rapid identification and takedown of unauthorized streams. This is paired with open web monitoring and post-event enforcement to identify illegal sources and disrupt longtail piracy. The comprehensive service is global, yet specifically tuned for ONE’s highest-traffic regions.
The partnership successfully launched on April 29 for ONE SAMURAI 1, the largest event in the organization's history. Across the live broadcast window and subsequent days, Friend MTS identified and removed unauthorized streams and videos at scale across social media and the open web, with the overwhelming majority originating on social platforms, amassing millions of views. Friend MTS pursued immediate action on every link submitted for enforcement by ONE and its broadcast partners, protecting both partner-licensed content and the D2C audience at an unprecedented scale.
Shane McCarthy, CEO of Friend MTS, stated: “ONE Championship is one of the most ambitious sports brands in the world, and we are delighted to support their international growth. For APAC live sports rights holders building global audiences, social media is one of the key piracy vectors where the audience watches – and where the pirates watch them. You cannot scale a premium live sports business without making antipiracy a core part of your strategy – ONE understands that better than most. Live combat sports demand the fastest possible enforcement on social media and the open web, together with the ability to scale up for a single headline event without missing a beat. That is exactly what our team and our technology are built to do.”
