LONDON—Blackbird plc, a provider of the Blackbird cloud video platform and developer of the online collaborative video editing and content creation platform, elevate.io, says elevate.io has surpassed 10,000 verified users following marketing campaigns in strategic, targeted locations around the world.

elevate.io, is Blackbird’s new online video editing and content creation platform built using Blackbird technology for the fast-growing creator economy. It has been in general release since March 2024 and, despite a rapid surge in sign-ups and usage, elevate.io has performed with 100% uptime and scaled easily, Blackbird said.

“It is tremendously exciting to see this early success which supports our belief in elevate.io and the vast appetite for online and collaborative video editing tools, said Blackbird CEO Ian McDonough. "As we execute our product led growth strategy, we are really encouraged to see our marketing efforts tapping into this wall of latent demand.”

MOLINE, ILL—Two TV stations in Idaho and Mississippi have adopted a news production platform based on Blackbird’s  cloud-native video editing platform for digital news production and its partner BLOX Digital, a provider of content management services. This latest deployment is one of multiple expansions of Blackbird by BLOX Digital since the partnership began in 2018.

The Imagicomm Communications stations—KPVI, the NBC affiliate in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Fox affiliate WABG in Greenville, Miss.—are using Blackbird collaboratively to remotely access, edit and publish news content fast to social, web and other digital platforms. When paired with the BLOX Digital’s BLOX VMS, the latest news stories are delivered to viewers leveraging Blackbird’s professional-grade tool set for advanced video editing in a browser.

Blackbird is deployed across a variety of brands in the sports, news, entertainment and enterprise sectors. Customers include Univision, IMG, Sky News Arabia, BT, NRL, Cheddar news, the U.S. Department of State and 70 local U.S. TV news stations with BLOX Digital.

LONDON—Cloud native video editing platform provider Blackbird has announced that  CBS19 has chosen browser-based Blackbird for professional, collaborative and scalable video editing and publishing for its broadcast and digital workflow. 

CBS19 in Charlottesville will deploy Blackbird to provide its editors, producers, social teams and reporters  with the full Blackbird edit suite to immediately access field footage, wire packages and  IP/SDI feeds, seconds behind live, from anywhere. Using the platform’s professional grade  toolset to edit content collaboratively, users can publish at speed to multiple digital and  broadcast endpoints including social media and playout, the company reported. 

“We are excited to have Blackbird in our newsroom,” CBS19 general manager, Mark Kurtz, commented. “Blackbird gives our staff a state-of-the art tool that is on the forefront of editing technology. It will allow our reporters and producers  to create content quickly while seamlessly tying into our existing infrastructure to serve our  linear and digital platforms.”

“We are delighted to welcome CBS19 on board alongside our existing news customers,” said Blackbird CEO, Ian McDonough. “Blackbird drives huge efficiencies as a centralizing tool in a newsroom environment  integrating seamlessly with existing workflows without the need for a large capex investment.  By enabling instant access to incoming content from multiple sources with lightning-fast turnaround, Blackbird is emerging as a linchpin tool in a fast paced newsroom.” 

CBS19 is a Charlottesville based TV station delivering local news, weather and sport to the  Charlottesville area across mobile, digital & TV. Parent company, The Lockwood Broadcast  Group, is a television, digital and advertising company based in Richmond, Virginia, owning  and operating 12 stations and 33 channels across 8 designated markets across the US. 

Blackbird’s multi-award-winning professional cloud video editing and publishing platform is  designed for fast paced and evolving newsroom workflows and is already deployed  across multiple TV stations across the United States. Customers include Univision, IMG, Sky News Arabia,  BT, NRL, Cheddar news, the US Department of State and 69 local US news stations with  Blox Digital.  

More information is available here: 

 LIÈGE, Belgium—EVS has launched IPD-VIA Create, a new web application that allows users of EVS’ end-to-end live production asset management (PAM) solution—MediaCeption Signature —to access a non-linear editing (NLE) tool within the same platform for faster and more efficient operations.

With MediaCeption Signature, users can perform all the content management and media workflow functions from ingest to playout, EVS explained. 

IPD-VIA Create, is the latest application to join the IPD-VIA web-based PAM platform that is at the core of the solution.

The application was designed in collaboration with Blackbird, developer of market-leading cloud native video editing platform, and is fully integrated into EVS’ ecosystem, providing instant access to all content through an easy to navigate browser-based interface. As a result, 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, the companies said. 

“Every single component of our MediaCeption Signature solution has been built on EVS’ deep expertise and experience in live production,” explained Nicolas Bourdon, chief marketing officer at EVS. “And since the edit-while-capture concept is at the heart of everything we do, this is a huge time saver for MediaCeption Signature users who can begin working on their projects while feeds are still being recorded and ingested. IPD-VIA Create is an exciting addition to our end-to-end live PAM workflow, as it enables faster and more efficient editing in live production, which ultimately will help production teams reach the finish line faster.”

Blackbird CEO, Ian McDonough, added that “IPD-VIA Create affords end users with a full editing suite embedded in the EVS PAM. The suite has all the same speed, efficiency, and carbon reduction benefits that Blackbird customers enjoy. As part of a seamless end to end workflow, this state-of-the-art solution can rapidly deliver time and cost reduction efficiencies as well as enhancing end user performance through advanced functionality and Blackbird’s highly responsive patented codec. The profound knowledge, experience and skills of both companies' teams have combined to deliver a product we are incredibly proud of and has the potential to unlock huge value for the global media industry for years to come.”

The companies noted that IPD-VIA Create provides an easy-to-use 9x16 video framing effect, a powerful color correction feature, and the choice between Thumbnail and Timeline displays. It is also designed to be a perfect toolset for storyboard editing, enabling journalists and producers to begin drafting the first cut of their stories while the action is happening.

More information is available here. 

Blackbird plc announced the appointment of Sumit Rai as chief product officer. He will join the company in June, to lead the strategic development and direction of the company’s product suite.

He leaves his current position as chief product officer at VEGAS Creative Software, manufacturers of the video-editing platform VEGAS Pro.

In welcoming Rai to the company, Blackbird CEO Ian McDonough said, “We are bringing [Rai] into the Blackbird team to lead the strategic development of our product portfolio and help accelerate our growth. He joins the company at an exciting time when we are very well positioned to leverage our core technology into fast growing video markets.”

Rai assumes this roll with more than 23 years of leadership experience in the video and film industry, having begun his career as a visual effects and video editor in news production and children’s TV and film. He progressed to chief technology officer at Pukka Films developing a production facility before founding Kulu Valley. Providing enterprise video distribution platforms for tier 1 organizations, Kulu Valley was acquired by Qumu Inc. in 2014.

Having developed video editing and distribution platforms used by thousands of companies and millions of users, the company said Rai will help take Blackbird’s multi-award-winning and multi-patented technology to wider markets.

A new survey from Blackbird suggests cloud is impacting production but the vast majority of workflows remain inefficient.

The study, completed by Coretta Research, find that 90% of respondents said they have adopted cloud production and remote editing in their workflows, with collaborative working and client review and approval as the top use cases.

However, most remote editing is still implemented using old-school workflows – with 65 per cent of users moving original high-res media files around the internet to support remote editing workflows.

The research says that many other video professionals are moving proxy files, or logging in remotely to an edit workstation in a facility, which it suggests is a model that is wasteful of expensive resources.

Over a quarter (27%) of remote editors are using a cloud-native browser-based production platform like Blackbird, which the research found to be twice as popular as using PC-over-IP to connect to a cloud edit workstation.

Cloud workflows were already in use by 60% of users before the Covid-19 pandemic but grew significantly as a result: 84% of users said they saw cloud production and remote editing grow in response, and 58% expect it to expand further as business gets back to normal.

The top benefits of cloud production identified by respondents are faster production workflows, the freedom to work from any location at any time, and cost savings over using traditional tools.

Robert Ambrose, Caretta Research’s co-founder and managing director, said: “From our experience of talking with hundreds of industry professionals, we’re seeing a distinct shift from cloud-enabled workflows to cloud-native workflows. This study shows just that – the flexibility of working remotely has unlocked new value and savings but has often been compromised by adapting legacy ways of working. We’re now seeing the adoption of workflows and tools that are optimised for cloud, avoiding the cost and security issues of constantly moving content around.”

LONDON—Blackbird has joined the SRT Alliance, a move that’s consistent with its support open standards, the company said today.

SRT makes it possible to use unpredictable networks, such as the public internet, for low-latency content delivery. It protects against packet loss and provides secure encryption for high-value content, Blackbird said.

“Blackbird sits at the core of our customers’ video creation and publishing workflows and as a leader in internet based and cloud native video editing we are proud to join the SRT Alliance,” said Huw Dymond, director of product and operations at Blackbird.

“Integration of the SRT protocol is complete and as such the benefits of security and resilience it can bring for customers looking to leverage SRT for their workflows now have a seamless bridge from live streaming to the power of our cloud native editing platform," he continued. 

By integrating support for the protocol, Blackbird is giving organizations working with SRT inputs an opportunity to take advantage of the efficiencies of its platform, such as production flexibility, faster content creation, lower total cost of ownership and lower carbon emissions compared to on-premise video editing workflows, it said.

“Blackbird is revolutionizing the creative process with cloud native editorial workflows,” said Peter Maag, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of strategic partnerships at Haivision.

“Haivision originally developed SRT for point-to-point transmission to replace satellite to fuel broadcast facilities using low cost everyday networks from remote locations. The continued adoption of SRT by leading platforms like Blackbird further cements the protocol as a critical enabler for the latest cloud workflows that are very much in demand today," Maag continued. 

Founded in April 2017, the SRT Alliance has more than 500 members.

More information is available on the company’s website. 

MOLINE, Ill. & London—Blackbird plc has announced that TownNews and its Blackbird cloud native video editing platform are now being used by 80 U.S. TV stations for digital news production. The deployments of Blackbird span 35 states. 

Video production teams at the 80 U.S. TV stations use Blackbird collaboratively to remotely access, edit and quickly publish news content to social, web and other digital platforms. When paired with TownNews’ Field59 VMS, the latest news stories can be quickly delivered to viewers using Blackbird’s browser-based cloud native video editing platform.

Blackbird customers include Univision, IMG, Tata Communications, Sky News Arabia, EVS, A+E Networks, Eurovision Sport, BT, NHL, Cheddar News, Riot Games, the U.S Department of State and 80 US TV stations with TownNews, Blackbird said. 

MOLINE, Ill., & LONDON—Blackbird has announced that 75 U.S. TV stations are using its cloud-native Blackbird video editing platform for digital news production, following its latest deployment in partnership with TownNews.

“The team at Blackbird has been a tremendous partner with us in providing the digital video workflow tools we know our broadcast television customer value and expect,” said Derek Gebler, vice president of broadcast and video at TownNews.

Stations deploying Blackbird use the platform to access, edit and publish news content quickly to social and web platforms. When paired with the TownNews Field59 VMS, the latest news stories can be delivered to viewers quickly using Blackbird’s browser-based, easy-to-use and carbon-efficient cloud native video editing platform, Blackbird said.

TV stations in 35 states have deployed Blackbird, and millions of viewers in the U.S. now consume content through the Blackbird and TownNews Field59 VMS platform.

“Blackbird and TownNews have really built an incredible partnership, which continues to expand at pace,” said Blackbird CEO Ian McDonough. “We started in 2018 with two stations and now have 75. It’s an excellent combined solution and demonstrates perfectly how two companies can work together for the customer’s benefit.”

More information is available on the Blackbird website.

LONDON—Blackbird plc has announced that CBS Sports Digital will deploy its video editing platform Blackbird for cloud-based video production.

CBS Sports Digital will use Blackbird for cloud video editing and publishing of sports content within CBS Sports Digital’s cloud infrastructure. 

The cloud-based system will allow CBS Sports Digital editors to access live and file-based content for editing and enriching of content without having to travel to a facility. It will also also eliminate the need to transit material to and from multiple local storage environments. 

Blackbird’s other customers include Tata Communications, EVS, BT, Univision, IMG, Deltatre, Sky News Arabia, A+E Networks, NHL, Eleven Sports, Riot Games, the U.S Department of State and 69 local US news stations with TownNews.

Blackbird’s patented technology allows for frame accurate navigation, playback, viewing and editing in the cloud. Blackbird enables multiple applications, which are used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists, esports, live events and content owners, post-production houses, other mass market digital video channels and corporations.

The cloud-native editing system also removes the need for costly, high end workstations and can be used from almost anywhere on almost any device. 

HACKENSACK, N.J.—LiveU announced it has worked with Blackbird plc, a developer and seller of the Blackbird cloud-native video editing and publishing platform, to speed up the production process and engage viewers with live and video-on-demand (VOD) content.

“Our collaboration with Blackbird is another important example of the flexibility of our cloud integration module with leading industry vendors,” said Avi Cohen, co-founder and COO of LiveU.

The new integrated solution allows production teams to send high-quality video from anywhere and edit, enrich and publish live and VOD content to any destination.

A video feed from any LiveU source, whether a field unit or the LiveU Matrix, can be introduced to the Blackbird editing workflow in near real time. There is no need to wait for the live shot to be complete, for files to finish uploading or for memory cards to be retrieved from the field before editing can begin, the company said.

“Every live shot streamed over LiveU can be accessible in the editing or clipping workflow. For example, customers can use Blackbird for rapid clipping of any LiveU Matrix feed, as easy as marking and dragging and dropping the clip to the social network or alternative destination of their choice,” said Cohen.

With Blackbird’s browser-based editing toolset, video clips, highlights and longer-form content can be created even with low bandwidth. When completed, content can instantly be published in broadcast quality to multiple channels, including OTT, social media and the web, the company said.

Using Blackbird makes it possible for enterprises to scale, improve productivity and help meet sustainability and carbon-reduction targets, it said.

“The world is quickly moving to ‘remote first’ in its approach to sports and news production. Our Blackbird and LiveU partnership is therefore both timely and exciting,” said Blackbird CEO Ian McDonough.

More information is available on the LiveU website.

LONDON—Blackbird is hoping to help turn the video industry green, and to do so has launched a carbon awareness study in collaboration with environmental management consultancy Green Element titled “Video Shouldn’t Cost the Earth.”

The study looks closely at how the video industry is impacting the environment and what steps can be taken to help meet sustainability goals.

Ian McDonough, CEO of Blackbird, cites the BAFTA-backed environmental organization Albert, which in its 2019-2020 report said that one hour of TV production generates 9.2 tons of CO2, which equates to nearly 28 square meters of lost sea ice.

A quick way for video companies to help negate this is by embracing existing cloud native technologies, the Blackbird and Green Element study details. This would reportedly help reduce emissions caused by production equipment, travel, physical network infrastructure, servers, equipment housing and data transfer of large media files.

PLUS: VITEC Pledges to Be Carbon Neutral by 2021

However, not all cloud-based technologies are carbon friendly, the study claims. It says that typical cloud-based solutions need extra hardware to connect to the cloud and output from it. Many solutions also use a virtual infrastructure within the cloud that consumes a significant amount of energy. Cloud-native solutions are said to mitigate these impacts.

The report shares details that over a two-week sporting event, Blackbird’s cloud-native professional video editing platform generated 91% less carbon emissions than on-premise editing systems and up to 84% less carbon emissions compared to cloud-based solutions.

“Through awareness, collaboration and commitment in the industry, we can make meaningful reduction in carbon emissions,” said McDonough. “If the technologies that exist today are leveraged correctly, it would result in a large, positive and immediate impact. A 25% reduction in carbon emissions from TV production by U.K. public service broadcasters alone would save over 200,000 square meters of sea ice per year. We owe it to future generations to act as leaders and collectively focus and prioritize cleaner video production that will benefit our environment.”

“Video Shouldn’t Cost the Earth” is available for download on Blackbird’s website. 

LONDON & LIEGE, Belgium—Blackbird and EVS have announced a partnership that will have the two companies working together on launch deployments for international sporting events.

EVS, which focuses on live video technology for broadcast and new media productions, has 16 regional operations located around the world. Blackbird provides a cloud-native video editing and publishing platform.

Blackbird will become a certified partner within EVS’ Technology Partner Program, with the goal of helping EVS to expand its live and near-live content management and distribution offerings by integrating cloud-based video editing, said Nicolas Bourdon, EVS chief marketing officer.

According to Blackbird CEO Ian McDonough, the Blackbird-EVS partnership is already set to be used for two upcoming international sporting events, though no details were provided as to which ones.

For more information, visit www.blackbird.video.  

LONDON—Object Matrix and Blackbird have announced a new partnership that will see the integration of Object Matrix’s MatrixStore cloud storage platform with the Blackbird cloud video editing and publishing platform.

Blackbird’s browser-based editing toolset enables users to create clips, highlights and longer form content with limited bandwidth. By integrating MatrixStore, users can now keep content secure while providing easy access and discoverability.

In addition, Blackbird allows media assets to be published in high-quality outputs to multiple digital channels, including social, OTT, web and back to MatrixStore.

“Integrating with Blackbird will give our customers true cloud native video editing and publishing capabilities, enabling them to access, enrich and distribute their content faster and at a much lower total cost of ownership,” said Jonathan Morgan, CEO, Object Matrix.

For more information, visit www.blackbird.video.  

BOSTON & LONDON—EditShare and Blackbird have teamed up to offer a collaborative workflow that assists with editing video in the cloud.

This integrated technology combines EditShare’s EFS scalable storage, FLOW media management and open APIs with Blackbird’s cloud video editing and publishing platform. With this connection, users can access all types of content located across storage pools in the proper formats for editing and delivery to multiple platforms and channels.

“Video production teams have rapidly pivoted their workflows to take advantage of the cloud’s scalability, flexibility and mobility,” said Conrad Clemson, EditShare CEO. “The combination of Blackbird and EditShare delivers added value to customers wanting to incorporate quick turnaround editing into a greater production workflow.”

EditShare and Blackbird will demonstrate their integrated solution during a pair of webinar sessions on Nov. 18, one at 9 a.m. ET and the other at 3 p.m. ET. 

LONDON—Cloud video editing developer Blackbird has announced that John Honeycutt has joined the Board of the Company in a non-executive director role.

Honeycutt, who has had experience at Google, Discovery Communications, Fox Cable Networks and Liberty Media, is an expert in cloud services, supply chain logistics and cyber security, according to Blackbird.

He currently has established The Sandy Valley Group, an independent advisory firm focused on the technology, transformation and growth strategies media and entertainment companies should implement for the future.

“John has an exceptional track record of achievement across our sector,” said Andrew Bentley, chairman of Blackbird. “He brings knowledge, experience and connectivity to global players and will make a valuable contribution to the future of Blackbird.”

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Blackbird team at such a critical time in the global content production industry,” added Honeycutt. “Flexibility, speed, collaboration and now distance are all key requirements in editing products. Blackbird’s remarkable technology is unique and transformative in all of these areas. I’m very excited to be joining Blackbird’s first-class team and can’t wait to help the company achieve its ambitious growth objectives.” 

For more information, visit www.blackbird.video.  

LONDON—Blackbird will now be part of the Whisper broadcast production company’s team for sports production, which covers events like Formula One racing, the Rugby World Cup, the Women’s Six Nations, the Paralympcis, W Series racing, the NFL and SailGP.

Whisper went with Blackbird to assist with video production efficiencies for creating content, the official announcement says. Blackbird tools will be used to remotely edit and enrich content. Among the products, the Blackbird Player will allow for the rapid viewing, commenting and approving of content from anywhere.

“Enabling our teams to work safely and efficiently to create world class content is a big priority for Whisper,” said Sunil Patel, Whisper’s CEO. “Blackbird’s state of the art, accessible solution allows us to achieve this with the highest production values.”

For more information, visit www.blackbird.video.  

WALTHAM, Mass. & LONDON—Zixi and Blackbird have announced a new partnership that will enable easy access to video content for the creation of clips to multiple devices.

Through this collaboration, Zixi’s Software-Defined Video Platform has been integrated with Blackbird’s fully-featured editor that can be accessed through a range of browsers. The new editing and publishing platform works in the cloud and can be deployed in Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud with live Zixi workflows. It also has the ability to insert branding, advertising and sponsored content for delivery to subscriber platforms.

The integrated SDVP provides ultra-low latency video delivery with the Zixi protocol, as well as transport, network and content quality analytics through Zixi Video Solutions stack. The virtual control plane ZEN Master, meanwhile, allows remote users to orchestrate, manage and monitor broadcast quality, low latency live video workflows from anywhere.

“The Blackbird Zixi integration allows for the real-time ingest of live video, and then lightning-fast video viewing, clipping, editing and immediate publishing for the realization of monetization,” said John Wastcoat, senior vice president, Alliances, at Zixi.

Zixi and Blackbird will demonstrate their joint offering April 29 at 11 a.m. ET as part of the Zixi Powered! virtual showcase.

For more information, visit www.blackbird.video.  

LONDON—Blackbird plc, a U.K.-based provider of the Blackbird cloud-based news production platform, has announced that digital news publisher TownNews has extended its adoption of Blackbird to 14 additional TV stations, bringing the total to 39 stations in 24 states. This is the third time the organization has expanded its use of Blackbird in less than 12 months, according to the company.

The additional stations are owned by seven broadcast groups that provide premium local news content to millions of viewers across the United States.

TownNews' TV news customers use the Blackbird platform in conjunction with the TownNews Field59 VMS to rapidly view, edit and publish video content in an SaaS cloud environment. 

In June 2018, Moline, Ill.-based TownNews launched the combined solution into 17 Meredith Corporation locations across 11 states. In December 2018, they extended this further into three networks owned by Block Communications.

"Our strong partnership with the successful TownNews group is growing quickly and has doubled the number of networks served within a year,” said Ian McDonough, CEO of Blackbird. “Blackbird and TownNews now serve 39 networks in 24 states which demonstrates our scalability. 

"The American news industry is evolving rapidly to accommodate digital consumption. This is where TownNews and Blackbird can add significant revenue advantages in speed and productivity. Commercially our partnership is a great example of a successful OEM strategy where Blackbird and TownNews land and then expand."

LONDON—A+E Networks has entered into a multi-year agreement with Blackbird to incorporate the company’s cloud video platform into its media infrastructure in support of key video workflows, the company said this week.

The Blackbird cloud video platform is designed to enhance productivity across A+E Networks’ operations, the company said.

A+E Networks, a joint venture of Hearst Corp. and Disney-ABC Television Group, has a portfolio of global brands that include History, Lifetime, Lifetime Movies, fyi and Viceland. With the addition of Blackbird, A+E Networks can ingest and access its vast video library in the cloud, giving executives, producers, editors and marketers the ability to view, edit and enrich content from anywhere on any device, the company said.

The setup will make it easier for A+E Networks to repurpose content. Live clipping workflows are also supported, giving the network a quick way to deliver highlights to social media channels.

Another feature of the system is the Blackbird Review app, which will allow the network to review, comment and approve video from handheld devices.

Blackbird values the deal in the high six figures.

More information is available on the Blackbird website.

LAS VEGAS–Xytech, a provider of facility management software for the broadcast, media services and video transmission industries is partnering with video cloud provider Blackbird to offer a frame accurate codec player in v9 of Xytech’s MediaPulse facility management software system. The companies say the partnership will help streamline the asset management process for users of MediaPulse v9 and provide users with a real-time, accurate browser-based viewer featuring complete access security for all files. Xytech will showcase MediaPulse v9 at the 2019 NAB Show, April 8-11.

The cloud-based Blackbird player will provide MediaPulse users with an efficient, cost-saving viewer through a streaming proxy codec, according to Xytech. By using the integrated player during their workflow, post-production professionals can now frame-accurately play, jog and shuttle backwards and forwards through their video content at multiple speeds, all in the cloud on bandwidth as low as 2 MB per second. Since the content is streamed, deleting the source file instantly renders all stream void for an added a layer of security.

“This strategic partnership with Blackbird brings real-time viewing features to MediaPulse users supporting Asset Management and Promo Workflows,” said Greg Dolan of Xytech. “Post-production professionals will be able to securely and accurately access and view video content using Blackbird and do it all on a nominal connection right from MediaPulse. Blackbird shares our vision of intuitive user experiences. This partnership is a great fit.”

Xytech will be in booth SL4705. Blackbird will be exhibiting on Microsoft’s stand, SL6716.