Blackbird crowned IABM Broadcast / Media Company of the Year

Posted: 10/01/2023

10 January 2023, London – Blackbird plc (AIM:BIRD; OTCQX:BBRDF), the technology licensor, developer and seller of market-leading cloud native video editing platform, Blackbird, announces that it has been crowned ‘IABM Broadcast / Media Company of the Year’.

This prestigious IABM (International Association for Broadcast and Media) Award recognizes and rewards broadcasters or media companies that have demonstrated throughout the year that they are at the forefront of creating and distributing ground-breaking content through innovation across the content chain. 

The Blackbird cloud-native editing and publishing platform is spearheading the revolution in remote production and the flexibility to create video content by anyone, anywhere, anytime. The platform was conceived around the concepts of freedom from location, freedom from proprietary systems and hardware and the resilience to continue to operate with very low demand on resources. 

Blackbird users include TelevisaUnivision, EVS, IMG, Deltatre, Sky News Arabia, A+E Networks, BT Sport, Arsenal FC, Eleven Sports, Cheddar News and the U.S Department of State. In 2022 Blackbird was used by its partners to create and distribute content for many of the most important and prestigious sporting events of the year including the Winter Olympics, Super Bowl and the World Cup. 

Blackbird won this award after another successful year of growth with revenues increasing by 78% in the first half of 2022 and overseas sales growing by 314% over the past 3 years. Shown to lower carbon emissions by up to 91% compared to cloud based and on premise editing platforms, Blackbird continued its media industry sustainability campaign last year by releasing a further study – ‘Decarbonizing Video Production’. The Company also released a study showing how Blackbird’s technology is four times faster than on premise editing platforms for various popular video production workflows. 

Last month Blackbird announced EVS as its first ‘Powered By Blackbird’ technology licensee with the launch of EVS’s web based editing application, ‘IPD-VIA Create’. Fully integrated into EVS’s ecosystem, IPD-VIA Create provides the ability to edit while capturing content through an easy to navigate browser-based interface. Users can work with their assets from anywhere in the world and immediately view and push edited content to craft editors or directly distribute it in broadcast quality to multiple channels.

In April Blackbird was awarded a much coveted Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade and in December the company also won the Best Tech Company Silver Award at the SportsPro OTT Awards.

Blackbird plc’s CEO, Ian McDonough, said: “Thank you to the IABM and their eminent judging committee for awarding us ‘Broadcast / Media Company of the Year 2022’. This is fantastic recognition of Blackbird’s rapid progress in the media and broadcast industry. 2022 was far from plain sailing for the media and tech sectors and it’s a testament to the hard work of the Blackbird team and our partners that we have been successful in generating record growth and won a number of prestigious industry awards. 

It seemed that in almost every major tournament or event in 2022 Blackbird was involved in some way. In 2023 we look forward to the rollout of the Blackbird technology via EVS IPD Via Create. In what I am sure will be an exciting year we feel the stage is set for the fastest, most efficient and functionally advanced cloud content creation tools to increase in adoption.”