ZOO Digital: Sheffield subtitling and dubbing firm working with streaming giants returns to profit
A Yorkshire firm which subtitles and dubs many of the world’s most popular films and TV shows has returned to profit following a recent business restructure and increasing demand for its services.
Sheffield-headquartered ZOO Digital has announced results for the six months to end of September, which record operating profit of $1.5m (£1.11m), profit before tax of $1.3m and adjusted EBITDA of $3.6m. It compares with a $1.2m operating loss, a $1.4m loss before tax and adjusted EBITDA of $2m for the same period in 2026.
Revenue of $23.6m was recorded, 5.5 per cent higher than the year before.
CEO Stuart Green told The Yorkshire Post earlier this year that the company and wider industry had “turned a corner” following a challenging period as a combination of a writers’ and actors’ strike in Hollywood and streaming services resulted in a “really painful three-year period) involving job losses.
The company works with around 12,000 freelancers and has around 400 permanent employees around the world, with about 70 based in Sheffield and others in locations like India, Korea and Los Angeles in a ‘follow-the-sun’ model allowing it to provides 24/7 services because of its global locations.
While the exact content Zoo Digital works on is a closely-guarded secret for contractual reasons, a recent investor note lists Amazon, Disney, HBO, Warner Bros and Paramount among its customers, with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Paramount+ named among its distribution partners.
Mr Green said today: “ZOO has returned to growth with improved profitability and cash generation. We are benefitting from increased demand for faster delivery in more languages as well as new content formats that are expanding the media localisation market.
“As a technology disruptor in the sector, we are setting new standards for quality delivery at significantly faster speeds than those offered by traditional vendors.
"Our proprietary software, which embeds AI across workflows, allows customers to balance speed and cost, while maintaining control through the input of our specialist teams around the world.
“This is delivering results. We have rightsized the business, developed our offering, added new customer engagements and expanded several key accounts.
"We are confident that ZOO now has the right structure and customer proposition to grow our share of a structural growth market for media localisation. We have a rightsized platform to grow the business profitably.”
The company’s results show increased demand for its ‘localisation’ dubbing services resulted in revenues in this area increasing by 46 per cent to $16.7m
The results said: “Higher volumes of localisation services [has been] driven predominantly by projects for older catalogue content licensed into new territories. New business tender activity over the period has been at highest levels since before the Hollywood strikes.”
It added: “Current trading is positive and continuing the trend seen in H1. The board is confident of delivering a return to revenue growth and profit progression for FY27 in line with market expectations.”