Zoo Digital loses more than half its revenues amid Hollywood strikes

The impact of the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes on Yorkshire media services firm Zoo Digital has been laid bare in accounts which show it falling to a multimillion-pound loss.

The Sheffield firm, which provides subtitling and dubbing services, has released financial results for the year ended March 31 in which its revenues more than halved to $40.6m (£31.2m) and it fell to an operating loss of $19.1m (£14.7m).

The company said the financial year had been “extremely challenging” for the film and television industry as strikes by Hollywood writers and actors had stalled new productions. That had interrupted the company’s previous “strong growth trajectory”, it said.

Zoo said it was “well positioned for recovery” and had seen rising revenues in the first quarter of its new financial year. It was also benefitting from cost reductions implemented during 2024.

CEO Stuart Green said: “It has been a year of unprecedented challenges for the entire film and television entertainment industry as the Hollywood writers and actors strikes brought new productions to a standstill. This has required difficult decisions to conserve cash while positioning the business for the market recovery that is in progress. Customer demand has improved recently as delayed 2023 productions have completed, with Zoo’s technology platforms, global reach and trusted reputation positioning us well as the recovery continues.

“We view the market disruption as a symptom of a sector undergoing structural change away from linear and towards streaming on demand. With this comes a preference for vendors that can deliver multi-platform, multilingual content across international markets.

“As one of the few end-to-end vendors with the scale and skillset required by major media companies, we believe that Zoo’s model is strategically aligned with the future direction of film and TV streaming. These structural dynamics of the industry continue to move in Zoo’s favour such that the board remains optimistic for the long-term prosperity of the group.”