Abstract: A system receives a media content item and analyzes the media content item to identify copyrighted material contained therein. Analyzing the media content item includes determining an initial interval for selecting segments of the media content item to be analyzed, generating a first digital fingerprint of a first segment of the media content item, comparing the first digital fingerprint to at least a first subset of a plurality of digital fingerprints of a first plurality of known works to determine whether the first digital fingerprint matches one of the plurality of digital fingerprints of the first plurality of known works, and determining an updated interval for selecting the segments of the media content item to be analyzed based on whether or not a match was found between the first digital fingerprint and one of the plurality of digital fingerprints of the first plurality of known works.