Zoo Digital reports a recovery in the streaming market following last year’s Hollywood strikes.
- The Sheffield-based media service provider anticipates market improvements through 2025.
- An increase in sales is projected with expected revenues of $27 million in the first half of 2025.
- Hollywood’s content strategy shift suggests a prolonged recovery phase to pre-2022 levels.
- Zoo Digital highlights a strategic transition in major customers’ operational approaches.
Zoo Digital, a prominent subtitling and dubbing service company headquartered in Sheffield, has announced a resurgence in its work pipeline subsequent to the disruptive Hollywood strikes of last year. This recovery is indicative of an upward trend within the streaming industry, with expectations that this positive trajectory will persist until late 2025. Investors have been informed that the company is projecting sales of no less than $27 million for the first half of the 2025 financial year, which marks a 28% rise from the same period in the previous year and a 42% increase from the preceding half.
Gillian Wilmot, chairman of Zoo Digital, stated that the streaming industry’s evolution continues as it adjusts following the strategic shifts and the strikes of 2023. “Recent months have witnessed the early stages of recovery as major US media organisations have enacted their plans to adjust for a future in which traditional linear television plays a diminishing role,” Wilmot explained, stressing that although many productions resumed post-strikes and have been globally distributed, the full realization of strategic changes, in terms of content type and capital allocation, will require time to achieve pre-2022 industry output levels, particularly in Hollywood.
Zoo Digital’s financial reports from August elucidated the stark impact of the strikes on its yearly performance concluding in March, where a sector slowdown led to a significant revenue decline to $40.6 million and an operating loss of $19.1 million. Despite these challenges, Zoo anticipates an EBITDA profit for the first half of 2025. Ms. Wilmot emphasized the board’s confidence in the beneficial outcomes stemming from the realignment of Zoo’s key clients, highlighting a transition towards an end-to-end approach with fewer but more proficient suppliers, a diverse mix of original international content with a shift towards episodic formats, and increased reliance on Zoo’s software platforms.
While Zoo carefully manages its cash resources to maintain production capacity and meet customer demand, it expects the unaudited cash balance as of September 30, 2024, to exceed $2 million. Despite the visibility of financial projections extending only to January 2025, the board remains optimistic about achieving profitable growth that will align with market expectations for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025. The company is scheduled to release its unaudited interim financial results for the six months ending September 2024 in November.
Zoo Digital’s strategic adaptations signal promising recovery prospects in the streaming market.
