Animoto

Animoto
Company typePrivate
IndustryPhoto Slideshow Software
FoundedAugust 2006
FoundersJason Hsiao, Brad Jefferson, Stevie Clifton, Tom Clifton
Headquarters
New York City
,
U.S.
Number of employees
100 (2020)[1]
Websiteanimoto.com

Animoto is a cloud-based video creation service that produces video from photos, video clips, and music into video slideshows,[2] and customized web-based presentations.[3] Animoto is based in New York City with an office in San Francisco.[4]

History

Animoto was founded in August 2006 by Jason Hsiao, Brad Jefferson, Stevie Clifton and Tom Clifton because of the poor video quality found on the internet.[5] Animoto’s patented Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology allows users to turn photos, video clips and music into video slideshows.[6] Animoto’s founders include former producers of ABC, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and the Documentary Group.[7]

Animoto launched a Facebook application during the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival. The application experienced viral growth in April 2008. According to The New York Times, by mid-April, Animoto's Facebook application had nearly 750,000 people sign up in three days. At the peak, almost 25,000 people tried Animoto in a single hour.[8] Animoto decided to use Amazon's cloud computing servers in order to meet the growing number of subscribers.[9] The surge of its growth required it to increase its previous IT infrastructure 100-fold.[10] The use of cloud services allowed it to cope with the uptick in demand but also scale back services easily and cost-efficiently when demand slackened.[10] In June 2009, the Animoto launched an iPhone app, allowing users to create video using pictures on their mobile phone.[11]

By January 2013, the company had reached 6 million users and received a patent for its Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology.[4] In July 2018, the company was hacked, leading to unauthorized access of Animoto user personal information.[12]

Previous logo

In 2020, Animoto released its social media insights in a report, consisting of an online survey of 1000 consumers and 500 marketers who are producing videos.[13] Animoto has partnerships with social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn.[14]

Products

It is considered one of the scalable web applications that were developed from the early phases of cloud computing by companies with limited IT infrastructure.[10] It is available in both online and mobile platforms and offers both free and paid upgraded accounts.[15]

Awards

In 2009 Animoto received the Webby Award as Best Web Service & Application of the year.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Animoto Company Profile". Craft. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  2. ^ "Animoto raises $25M to invest in mobile video creation — Tech News and Analysis". Archived from the original on 2013-06-14. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
  3. ^ Esrock, Yale; Munoz, Richard; Neal, Douglas (2010). Cloud Revolution. Falls Church, VA: CSC. p. 118. ISBN 9780578051161.
  4. ^ a b Animoto celebrates its fifth birthday with 6 million users
  5. ^ Animoto: The No-Infrastructure Startup | Fast Company | Business + Innovation
  6. ^ Summers, Nick (14 January 2013). "Reporter for The Next Web". The Next Web. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  7. ^ Wilson, Sara (18 December 2008). "The Animoto Revolution: How this band of hipsters is taking photo sharing into the 21st century". Entrepreneur.com. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  8. ^ Fitzgerald, Michael (May 5, 2008). "Cloud Computing: So You Don't Have to Stand Still". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  9. ^ Animoto: When scalability becomes a matter of prosperity or death – The Next Web
  10. ^ a b c Baun, Christian; Kunze, Marcel; Nimis, Jens; Tai, Stefan (2011). Cloud Computing: Web-Based Dynamic IT Services. Heidelberg: Springer Science & Business Media. p. 63. ISBN 9783642209161.
  11. ^ Chang, Alexandra (19 December 2011). "Animoto's new mobile app promises easy video slideshow creation". MacWorld. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
  12. ^ Whittaker, Zack (20 August 2018). "Animoto hack exposes personal information, location data". TechCrunch. Oath Inc. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Social Video Trends: Consumer & Marketers Insights for 2020". Business 2 Community. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  14. ^ "Animoto Adds Vice President of Experience Design and Vice President of Finance". www.spectrumequity.com. Retrieved 2021-04-19.
  15. ^ Covili, Jared; Provenzano, Nicholas (2015-10-09). Classroom in the Cloud: Innovative Ideas for Higher Level Learning. Corwin Press. ISBN 9781506301662.
  16. ^ "Animoto -- The Webby Awards". Retrieved 2020-04-16.