Preston animation firm grows six-fold during coronavirus lockdown

Viddyoze’s technology allows people to create and use their own video animation in three simple clicks and is now being used in 250,000 videos ever month worldwide.

The growth in demand has already seen the Lancashire’s tech firm’s turnover grow dramatically and the business is trading at an annual revenue rate in excess of £24m.

The SaaS company attracted 10,000 new customers in April, a six-fold increase on February’s figure.

Tech giants like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Netflix have all attracted millions of new users during the lockdown.

David Chamberlain, who founded Viddyoze in 2015 with Jamie Garside and Joey Xoto, said the lockdown had created millions of new video-makers.

He said: “Everyone wants to make content and it just so happens that our platform allows people to make content easily or improve the content they’ve already got.

“We’re in a space where we’ve had a business for five years and we are pleased that the business continues its straight line growth despite the pandemic.

“It has forced people to use technology like Zoom and Google Hangouts and it’s the same with making video.”

Viddyoze is attracting around 850 new customers a day, partly because it’s been able to increase its advertising budget as global advertising rates have dropped during the lockdown.

Mr Chamberlain explained: “My wife is a dog groomer who hasn’t been able to groom dogs during the lockdown because of social distancing.

“What she did was shoot some videos for her customers to show them how to keep their dog’s coat in good condition during Covid-19. She’d never made video content before.”