M+E Connections

At this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas, Avid will be announcing more offerings that are part of the strategic cloud alliance that it announced with Microsoft last year, according to Avid CFO Brian Agle.

Both companies have committed resources to “build out the back end” of the collaboration, he said March 29 at the Sidoti & Co. Spring 2018 Conference in New York. “Microsoft will continue to invest additional resources and funding to accelerate targeted products,” he told attendees, adding more products will be announced in association with Microsoft at NAB and then at IBC in Amsterdam, Sept. 14-18.

He added: “Today, we’re still doing back-office integration and development with Microsoft. In 2019, you’ll start to see a more significant revenue stream.”

Avid and Microsoft Azure had agreed to develop numerous Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings, built on the MediaCentral platform, Avid’s collection of creative tools and media workflow solutions.

The pact was announced during Avid’s annual Connect conference, held in conjunction with NAB last year. The multi-year agreement called for Microsoft to invest resources and funding in Avid-based cloud-based solutions, along with specific Azure-based cloud services for the media and entertainment industry, with Avid supplying Azure exclusive hosting and media services, integrated into its portfolio of cloud-based solutions.

The company’s desire to better position itself for the “high-growth segments” of the market was helped by the pact with Microsoft, Agle said March 29.

Avid is “well-positioned in a growing market,” but it’s “a market that has gone through significant transition,” Agle also said.

The “transformation” of Avid, “positioning us for growth and where we want to head in the future,” was completed at the end of the second quarter last year, he said, adding: “We’re happy that that is behind us and we’re in a better position for it.”

Avid has seen “great growth” in recurring revenue, which has helped, he said, noting 51% of its bookings were recurring revenue in its most recent quarter.

Content and distribution channels have significantly increased in the media and entertainment industry, which has boosted content consumption, he went on to say. But, despite all that growth, media tech budgets have only increased 3-4%, he said. It’s become a more competitive market, so companies are looking for “more and more competitive tools and platforms” within the small budget increase they’ve been given, he noted, adding Avid’s platform allows its customers to “be able to do more with less.”

The Avid Customer Association, meanwhile, has “had tremendous success” since its creation in 2016, he also said, pointing to the approximately 4,000 unique organizations that its members come from. The next Avid Customer Association meeting will be held in Las Vegas April 7, just as NAB gets underway, he noted.

Membership doubled to more than 20,000 media and entertainment professionals globally, Avid said in September.