December should have seen the return of IBC to Amsterdam, however, following a rapid rise in Covid cases, the organisers made the tough decision to cancel the event. While tradeshows play a vital part within marketing strategies, the safety of the public should always take priority.
We had been planning to showcase a whole load of features and developments from the last few months at IBC. However, we are now planning to host a virtual live demo in the near future - watch this space! In the meantime, here is an update on what you may have missed over the past year, from new product releases to company acquisitions, and solution integrations.
Codemill Acquires Cantemo
Probably our biggest news from last year. In June, Codemill reached an agreement to acquire Cantemo, developers of the next generation Cantemo Media Asset Management (MAM) software (previously known as Cantemo Portal). Cantemo was established to lead the revolution for next-generation media management solutions, and its acquisition by Codemill has accelerated its development.
Integrations
Cantemo
Following the news of the acquisition, came the announcement of the deep integration between the Cantemo MAM software and our flagship Accurate.Video Validate QC application.
With several clients already using both applications separately in their media workflows, we were keen to deliver a smoother, more elegant user experience between them. With Accurate.Video Validate being a professional browser-based application, used by technical operations teams for QC and review, and Cantemo offering powerful, scalable, and modular, hybrid cloud MAM software, the integration was an obvious next step.
At the same time, Cantemo was also integrated with Accurate.Video Poster meaning that content operations and marketing teams can now extract high-resolution posters and VOD thumbnails from high resolution video content directly in the browser, with scaling, cropping, graphic overlays and custom output templates, all managed within Cantemo. – more on Poster later.
SDVI Rally Access
We also announced the integration between Accurate.Video Validate and SDVI Rally Access, making QC and compliance more efficient and productive for media organisations.
The integrated solution has helped to accelerate edit workflows by enabling operators to jump to points in media that have been identified by an automated QC engine as needing review and/or corrective action. It also ensures faster manual review by utilizing automated QC for most of the video review and pointing operators at only those points in a file that need human review. As well as ensuring compliance and saving valuable time, it can be used to add markers for downstream operations, such as ad breaks and end credits.
We are due to announce another exciting integration very soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that one.
New Releases
Accurate.Video Poster
Creating posters and thumbnails for promo materials is typically considered to be a time-consuming process, which is why we created Accurate.Video Poster.
Accurate.Video Poster is designed to create compelling media content that streamlines workflows and attracts subscribers. With Accurate.Video Poster there are endless possibilities to create the perfect artwork to encourage views. It has all the features needed to create a frame perfect poster, it can be accessed through a web-browser, and it seamlessly integrates with your existing tools, ensuring there are no disruptions to current systems and processes.
Accurate.Video Edit
We also launched a cloud-based video editing tool, Accurate.Video Edit, which is a professional video editor specifically designed for Content Supply Chain workflows. It enables users to work efficiently in the browser to perform those essential edits.
Accurate.Video Edit is a fast way to make edits needed for content compliance, content localisation for different channels or markets, versioning for different platforms, and segmentation for promo and marketing teams. It also includes a unique ability to efficiently remove unwanted elements, such as colour bars, slates, black frames, and other inappropriate content.
New Talent
We also welcomed three thesis students into the Codemill family. Each year we offer students from the Bachelor and Master Programs in Computer Science and Interaction and Design to do their thesis or summer internships at Codemill. They each presented an impressive prototype at the end of their placements, and we continue to wish them well in their futures.
Our team expansion didn’t end there. In June, we welcomed Lucia Johnstone-Cowan, as a new UK based Sales Manager to strengthen our presence outside of Sweden. And finally, in September, we introduced the latest member of the team: Greg Cox, who is leading our presence in the US as SVP Business Solutions, based in California.
Throughout the year, we have welcomed many new team members and have seen many promotions. We value each and every employee and look forward to expanding our team in the months to come.
In Other News
IPO
In June, we took a huge step for the future of the company and announced the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Codemill onto Nasdaq First North Growth Market. The decision to make Codemill a public company was a big decision, but one that will extend our value proposition and complement our overall company goals.
DPP Report
Codemill was part of The Cloud for Media research project conducted by the DPP, which aimed to address challenges within the industry and provide some guidelines on how to overcome them.
The Automating Media report highlighted that one of the biggest shifts that will see automation finally become more widespread for media workflows is the transition to the cloud. It also highlights the areas with the most potential to improve efficiencies using automation as well as featuring case studies of media companies already doing it.
You can access the report here.