Avanci Video Signs First Licensee and Publishes Rates
On February 5, the Avanci Video platform announced that it has signed its first licensee and published its royalty rates. The licensing platform, which launched in October 2023 with 25 patent holders, now includes over 40 licensors covering five video technology standards: AV1, H.265 (HEVC), H.266 (VVC), MPEG-DASH, and VP9. The licensee is anonymous, though Avanci describes it as a global streaming platform with tens of millions of users operating in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Avanci Patent Pool Licensors in 2026
Here's the rate information: Avanci offers three billing options the user can select: percentage of revenue (1.6-2.0%), per-user ($0.12-$0.15), or fixed fee, which is still being finalized. As I’ll detail below, the percentage varies with the number of technologies deployed.
In terms of incentives, there’s a 10% early-adopter discount and a separate promotional adjustment depending upon the relative usage of H.264 and covered technologies (more later). Both discounts stack and last for the term of the license.
Avanci royalty rates
As you probably know, Avanci Video isn't the only pool or platform claiming royalties for codec usage by video streaming services. Access Advance's Video Distribution Patent Pool launched in January 2025 and covers all four codecs in the Avanci platform, though not MPEG-DASH.
While the two pools share at least 16 common members, they also contain many discrete patent portfolios. For complete patent coverage, streaming services will either have to license from both Access Advance and Avanci or license from one and sign bilateral agreements with other patent owners not in that pool. Publishers that take a license from both Access Advance and Avanci can seek offset for the double payment for patents in both pools.
If you’re attempting to compute total royalties under both programs, this offset could be a very significant number which isn’t easy to estimate. In general, offsets are based on the licensor’s share of revenue within each program, which is an internal allocation that presumably considers factors like the number and strength of patents rather than an even split to all participating patent owners.
If you’re estimating total royalties under both programs, understand that it’s not a case of 1 + 1 = 2, it’s closer to (1 + 1) –(.x) = 2-.x. Note that Avanci describes its offset policy in the platform FAQs here; Access Advance details its policy for other pools here and the same policy will apply for this pool.
Access Advance's royalty rate for non-developing countries. This includes the 12.5% discount for early signups.
As you’ve seen, royalties are based on a number of factors, including:
- Subscribers, revenue, users, and where they are located,
- The number of covered technologies used,
- The percentage these codecs are used by the service,
- When the service takes a license
Table 1 contains comparative details about the pools with some discussion about the finer points below.
Table 1: Pool Comparison at a Glance
Table 1. General pool provisions.
Access Advanced Royalty Calculations
Here are some details to keep in mind when computing royalties. Let's start with Access Advance.
First, streaming revenue includes “total revenue from subscription, rental, sell-through or other access fees. If any such fees are reduced in exchange for viewing of advertisement, the amount of such reduction is added to the calculation.” This excludes revenue from pure advertisement-based services, so if your service doesn’t charge subscription fees or pay per view, the revenue metric is zero.
Of course, this doesn’t mean there’s no royalty on advertising-based services; it means that the royalty is computed by the number of users. Still, if you’re an advertising-based service, factor this distinction into your calculations.
Access Advance Ladder Adjustment
During the startup-phase of the pool, Access Advance uses a ladder adjustment to allocate royalty charges based upon the current strength of the pool. So, the posted royalty charge is for the pool at full strength, with the ladder adjustment used to reduce payments before the pool achieves full strength.
Here’s how it works. Access Advance assigns each licensor a point score based on factors including number of patents, enforcement history, reported contributions, and ecosystem influence. When the total reaches 75 points, licensees pay 100% of published rates. Until then, payments are proportionally reduced.
As of February 8, 2026, Access Advance confirmed that the pool had 60.5 points, resulting in a 0.81 multiplier (60.5/75), so current licensees pay 81% of the published tier rates. If you’re attempting to compute short term royalties, use that number, and check Access Advance’s website or contact Access Advance for updates on the current number of points.
Access Advance Usage-Based Qualification
Access Advance charges based on users and subscribers who actually receive video encoded using the modern video codecs, or MVCs included in the pool, not total platform metrics. If a streaming service had 100M subscribers, but only 10M watched HEVC or other MVC, royalties would be based upon 10M, not 100M.
This matters most for services using selective deployment strategies, like HEVC only for premium 4K/HDR tiers. If you’re using AV1/HEVC for bandwidth savings across the entire platform, the vast majority of users would watch one or the other and royalties would be based upon all those users.
In addition, Access Advance reduces rates for viewing that occurs in developing countries, which includes China and India. If your service earns substantial revenue from developing countries, this distinction will likely be meaningful.
Finally, Access Advance’s rates are capped at the top and limited by a de minimis exception for smaller services which works via a semi-annual $25,000 credit. As a practical matter, if you are under the minimum tier shown in Figure 2 for users, subscribers or revenue, you will owe no royalties to the Access Advance pool.
Avanci's Royalty Calculations
Avanci offers three billing options that licensees can choose from. The revenue-based option charges 1.6% of streaming revenue for the use of one licensed technology, 1.8% for two technologies, or 2.0% for three or more technologies. The per-user option charges $0.12/month for one technology, $0.135/month for two, and $0.15/month for 3+ technologies. A third fixed-fee option is still being finalized.
Streaming revenue includes subscriptions, pay-per-view charges, and advertising revenue. Including advertising revenue pushes the revenue base higher for Avanci than for Access Advance, but if the Avanci royalty is lower based upon the number of users or fixed fee, services can use that option.
Speaking of per-user, this counts monthly active users of the streaming service, regardless of whether they're paying subscribers or ad-supported viewers. All three options also qualify for a 10% early adopter discount, though eligibility isn't tied to the implementation date and must be confirmed by Avanci.
Avanci's Promotional Adjustment: Usage-Based Allocation
There's also a promotional adjustment under which services pay royalties only on traffic using Avanci-licensed technologies (HEVC, VVC, AV1, VP9, MPEG-DASH), not on legacy H.264 traffic. Specifically, a platform streaming 70% H.264 and 30% HEVC would pay only 30% of the royalty. This adjustment applies for the entire term of the license and adjusts dynamically as the service’s technology mix changes. So, a service that's 70% H.264 in year one might be 30% H.264 in year three, and the royalty would adjust accordingly.
To qualify, services must sign a license agreement by July 5, 2026, or within six months of the first commercial implementation of any of the four covered codecs (but not MPEG-DASH). So, if you started using any of the four codecs over 6 months before July 5, 2026, that’s your deadline. If you’re using MPEG-DASH with H.264, the six-month window doesn’t start until you commercially deploy one of the four codecs.
As the table shows, Avanci’s current rates don’t have a cap at the top or de minimis exception at the bottom. Either or both may or may not be addressed when Avanci publishes the fixed license terms.
Finally, I’ll reemphasize that the discounts discussed for both programs, particularly Avanci, are time-sensitive and very substantial. If you think you might be paying royalties under either program, check with your IP attorney immediately.
Author’s note: Both Access Advance and Avanci reviewed this article before submission, which I appreciate. Given the number of revisions and details in the article, it’s likely that a few errors snuck through. We’ll note and make any corrections as soon as possible.
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