Zoo Digital sees sales soar as people turn to TV box sets during lockdowns

The Sheffield-based group said the past year has seen an acceleration in the entertainment sector as the pandemic temporarily stalled the production of new titles and consumer take-up of on-demand streaming services rose considerably.

Some film and TV productions have started to resume and the second half of 2021 is expected to see the completion of significant numbers of new titles.

Several direct-to-consumer streaming video services are now available from leading US media organisations, all of which are expected to be offered internationally in local languages in due course.

A number of these platforms are investing heavily in international series that will also require localisation into multiple languages.

These factors, together with ongoing initiatives to repurpose large back catalogues of content for distribution through streaming platforms, are creating positive industry dynamics and structural drivers for Zoo Digital.

Zoo's revenues for the year to March 31 are now expected to rise 33 per cent to £28m, ahead of previous management guidance.

Earnings are expected to more than double to around £3.2m.

Zoo said that trading in the first weeks of the 2022 financial year has been strong with a significant pipeline of customer projects committed for the first quarter. With a robust pipeline and continued momentum, the board said it is confident in its ability to deliver profitable progress.

Stuart Green, Zoo's chief executive, said: “We have delivered a strong second half performance as streaming services seek to grow their customer bases internationally and on a global scale.

We have invested ahead of events and are building out our international footprint to service globalising customers.

“Looking ahead, we expect new title production to resume and back catalogue migration to continue. The first quarter of our new financial year has begun well.”

Gillian Wilmot, Zoo's chairman, added: “These trading results and the success of our over-subscribed £7.4m fundraise reinforce both our strategy and the capability of our executive team to deliver.”