New division launched at entertainment industry software provider

ZOO Digital Group, which provides cloud-based localisation and media services to the entertainment industry, is launching a mastering services division.

This will support content creators to deliver for next day air on major streaming services and platforms.

The mastering services division will provide an additional revenue source for the Sheffield-based company.

Mastering is the process of finishing or finalising a programme after post-production to synchronise the video and audio tracks, conform to technical requirements of the target platforms, and perform compression and encoding of the audio-visual materials.

ZOO will provide mastering for both UHD and HD content, including next day air servicing for content on major streaming platforms.

The service will be led from ZOO’s Los Angeles facility, which benefits from the latest hardware and software for mastering, QC and packaging.

It will be headed by Melissa McAllister, who has joined the company from Fox Filmed Entertainment as director of TV mastering and servicing.

With 18 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry, including as supervisor of scheduling and servicing for media services at Fox Filmed Entertainment, McAllister specialises in managing projects to deliver the highest levels of quality, while adhering to tight turnaround times.

Stuart Green, CEO of ZOO Digital, said: “The launch of a dedicated mastering service is the natural progression in our end-to-end client offering and positions ZOO to benefit from a potentially significant future revenue stream.

“The biggest names in entertainment are dealing with more languages, more platforms, and more audiences, so having a vendor that can offer both multi-language localisation and media services means greater efficiency, fewer delays, and simplifies the challenge of taking a project from post-production to platform.”

McAllister added: “The biggest factors in delivering mastering services in the entertainment industry are exactly the traits that ZOO has made its name for.

“By always looking ahead at how best to tackle industry challenges, this has enabled us to hit the ground running with the new service line.

“ZOO is a proven safe pair of hands for the biggest names in the industry and we already have the knowledge and experience within the team to deliver high-quality mastering projects.”