ZOO Digital Group PLC is a provider of cloud software based

subtitling Subtitles are texts representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, caption ...

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

, and media localization services to the TV and movie industry. Its production facilities are located in El Segundo,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

;

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, UK and

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, U.A.E. The company employs more than 500 employees worldwide and utilizes a global network of over 5,000 freelance translators and dubbing artists.

History

2001–2003: Founding and incorporation

In 2001,

Gremlin Interactive Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited, was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established i ...

founder Ian Stewart led a merger of Kazoo3D PLC and ZOO Media Corporation Ltd to form ZOO Digital Group PLC. In 2003, two co-divisions were formed. ZOOtech Ltd was established to develop software for interactive DVDs. ZOO Digital Publishing, an operating division of the group, was established to create video games.

2003–2005: Success with interactive video games and software for DVD

In 2003, ZOO Digital Publishing published the interactive DVD for the game show, ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (British game show), British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, cu ...

''. In the same year, ZOO Digital Publishing won the award for Navigation Design and Implementation Excellence at the DVD Association Excellence Awards,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In 2004, ZOOtech launched DVD EXTRA Studio enabling new levels of interactivity on DVDs. ZOOtech also opened an office in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in order to give the business a base for expanding DVD EXTRA applications for European markets. In the same year, ZOO Digital Publishing released ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' ''2nd Edition'' for

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

. In 2004, for a second year, the company won the Navigation Design and Implementation Excellence, DVD Association Excellence Awards, New York. ZOOtech was also crowned the overall winner at the Sheffield Business Awards and picked up the Sheffield Business Award for Innovation. In the same year ZOO Digital Publishing bought Hothouse Creations, a computer games developer based in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

which had developed computer and video games including ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' on PlayStation 1 and ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'' and ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' on

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

. In 2005, 60% of the interactive DVDs on the market were being made using ZOOtech's DVD Extra Studio. In the same year, ZOO Digital Publishing won three awards at the DVD Association Excellence Awards ceremony in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

: ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

2005'' won the DVD Video Game Excellence Award, ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 2nd Edition'' won the Navigation Design and Implementation Excellence Award and ''

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, The Official Interactive-DVD'' won the Technical Achievement Excellence Award.

2006–2012: Refocus on technology for media and entertainment

In 2006, Dr Stuart Green took over as Chief Executive Officer of ZOO Digital Group and Ian Stewart stepped down. ZOO Digital Group sold two of its subsidiaries. ZOO Digital Publishing, the division creating video games was sold following a decline in the traditional DVD market. ZOO Interactive Video, also formerly part of ZOO Digital Publishing, was sold. The company adopted the operating name ZOO Digital. In the same year, ZOOtech won the Annual DVDA Excellence Award at Digital Hollywood for DVD EXTRA Studio. In 2007, ZOO Digital acquired

-based Scope Seven, a media production and design company providing compression and authoring services to video publishers including a number of

Hollywood studios Hollywood studios may refer to: *Cinema of the United States, collectively referred to as "Hollywood", referring to an area of Los Angeles, California *Universal Studios Hollywood, a production facility and theme park in Hollywood *Disney's Hollywo ...

. ZOOtech announced a deal with Mattel Inc. (MAT) to develop DVD games, including the ''

High School Musical 2 ''High School Musical 2'' is a 2007 American Musical film, musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 70th Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), it is the sequel to ''High School Musical'' (2006) and ...

DVD Board Game'' and ''

1 vs. 100 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

DVD Game''. In 2008, ZOO Digital announced a 15-year contract with Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures International to deliver its software automation products to DVD film releases.

Sony Pictures Entertainment Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

also licensed ZOO's Templated Authoring System ("TAS") in order to produce standard definition DVD titles. In 2010, ZOO Digital's new

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

toolset was adopted by a major Hollywood studio. The iTunes toolkit was designed to automate the production of menus and bonus features. In the same year, Multi Packaging Solutions (MPS) partnered with ZOO Digital to use its software for managing brand identity and marketing for multinational brands. ZOO Digital's software was designed to integrate "language translation, localization, proofing, global collaboration, version control, and archiving." In 2011, the decline in the DVD market saw ZOO Digital report a half-year loss.

2012–Present: Cloud localization services

In 2012, ZOO Digital launched cloud subtitling services for TV and movie content with ZOOsubs. 2014 saw ZOO announced by

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

as one of four vendors selected to provide new

packaging services to its

Compressor A compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor is a specific type of gas compressor. Many compressors can be staged, that is, the gas is compressed several times in steps o ...

users. 2015 saw ZOO sign a deal with

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

to provide it with a new subtitling and captioning platform. In 2016, ZOO became a

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Preferred Vendor; this changed to a Netflix Preferred Fulfilment Partner in 2018. In 2017, ZOO launched the entertainment industry's first cloud dubbing service, powered by its proprietary ZOOdubs software platform and won a

NewBay Media NewBay Media, LLC was a magazine and website publisher founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City. NewBay Media served five marketplaces — Music, Pro Audio/AV, Video & Broadcast, Consumer Electronics, and Education. In April 2018, ...

Best of Show Award at the

NAB Show NAB Show is an annual trade show produced by the National Association of Broadcasters. It takes place in April, and has been held since 1991 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show's tagline is "Where Content Comes to L ...

2017 and an award at IBC Show 2017 at the

IABM The International Trade Association for Broadcast & Media Technology (IABM) is a non-profit trade organization, formerly known as International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers, is the International Association for Broadcast & Media Techn ...

Design & Innovation Awards in the Post Production category. In 2018, ZOO Digital's ZOOdubs cloud dubbing service won an IABM award in the ‘Publish’ category and ZOO won the Best Performing Share Award at the AIM Awards 2018 and Company of the Year at the Small Cap UK Awards. In March 2021, Zoo Digital has announced plans to boost its progress after a £7.4 million IPO on the London Stock Exchange. It plans to collect funds from a placement by issuing 7.0 million shares at a price of 100 pence each, for a total of GBP7.0 million. In 2022, the company reported growth of 78% from the previous year.

Software

* DVD Extra * DVD Extra Studio * eBook Builder * Template Authoring System (TAS) * Media Adaptation Tool (MAT) * ZOOcore * ZOOsubs * ZOOdubs

Services (current)

Subtitling Subtitles are texts representing the contents of the audio in a film, television show, opera or other audiovisual media. Subtitles might provide a transcription or translation of spoken dialogue. Although naming conventions can vary, caption ...

Dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

Closed Captioning Closed captioning (CC) is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information, where the viewer is given the choice of whether the text is displayed. Closed cap ...

Digital Distribution Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of information or materials through digital platforms. The distribution of digital ...

Development grants

* Collaboration Systems for Digital Media Production 8 Feb – 10 Oct, £711,570, Innovate UK award * Commercialisation of Motion Pictures Archives (COMPA) 10 Jan – 12 Dec, £765,366, Innovate UK award * Persistent And Robust Tracking of Entertainment Content (PARTEC) 11 Jun – 13 May, £338,754, Innovate UK award * Optimising Production Through Implicit Metadata In Scripts for Television (OPTIMIST) 11 Nov – 13 Apr, £267,813, Innovate UK award * Process Automation for Localisation of Dialogue in Entertainment Media (PALODIEM) 14 Oct – 16 Sep, £250,000, Innovate UK award * Multimedia Analysis for Unsupervised Dubbing In Entertainment (MAUDIE){{cite web, url=https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=104264, website=gtr.ukri.org, title=Multimedia Analysis for Unsupervised Dubbing In Entertainment (MAUDIE), access-date=2018-12-19 18 May – 21 Apr, £823,460, Innovate UK award

References

British companies established in 2001 Companies based in Sheffield Companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market Dubbing studios Software companies established in 2001 Software companies of England 2001 establishments in England