Eleven Sports chooses Blackbird for cloud video editing and publishing of content to fans

Posted: 03/12/2019

3 December 2019, London, Lisbon and Brussels – Blackbird plc (AIM: BIRD), developer and seller of the market-leading cloud video editing platform Blackbird, has been chosen by Eleven Sports for the rapid editing and publishing of sports content to fans online. The contract is for two years.

Eleven Sports, part of global sports investment and innovation group Aser Ventures, is one of a new breed of broadcaster who are redefining how global sport is packaged and delivered. Eleven Sports’ innovative OTT platform is at the core of a platform agnostic approach, engaging fans across on-air, online and social media – delivering thousands of hours of top-class sporting action per year to millions of paying customers.

The company will integrate Blackbird into its video infrastructure and use it to rapidly clip, edit and publish sports content seconds after live to its social channels and OTT platforms in Belgium and Portugal. Eleven Sports’ social media, marketing, digital and production teams will be able to easily create clips and highlight packages for sports fans to enjoy.

Eleven holds rights to a wide array of premium sports properties in territories around the world including the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and League 1, as well as the NBA, NFL, UFC and Formula One.

Stevie Rowe, Head of Production at Eleven Sports, said: “We want to give our fans access to the best sporting moments as quickly as possible and Blackbird will play a big role in helping us do that. They have a great product and we’re really looking forward to working with them.”

Ian McDonough, CEO of Blackbird, said: “I am delighted to have a dynamic and innovative broadcaster like Eleven Sports as a customer of Blackbird. Together Blackbird and Eleven are redefining and reshaping long established business models and industries. Eleven have selected Blackbird for its unparalleled speed to air, high quality output and easy scalability. We look forward to expanding with them as they grow.”

Blackbird is the world’s only video editing platform developed from the ground up specifically for the cloud. Delivering unbeatable speed, scalability and quality of editing tools and video output, Blackbird is accessed through any browser, easy to learn and needs only limited bandwidth to use.  Blackbird delivers significant productivity and efficiency benefits to any enterprise-level organisation working with video.

Blackbird drives major awareness, engagement and reach for companies and brands in the sports, esports, news, entertainment, enterprise and public sectors. Customers include IMG, Deltatre, Peloton, TownNews, A+E Networks and the U.S Department of State.