Introduction

Sydney-based Access Innovation Holdings Limited (ASX: AIM), popularly known as Ai-Media will now be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) with a $177.4 million market capitalization. The Australian media company with international operations will list on the exchange from 15th September with a $1.23 issue price per share.

Established with the initial goal of creating captions for the hard-of-hearing and Deaf community, Ai-Media’s product portfolio offers captioning, translation, transcription, speech analytics and audio description.

About A-Media

Founded in 2003 by Alex Jones, who was born deaf, and Tony Abrahams in Sydney. The duo recognized a gap in the accessibility technology market and decided to establish Ai-Media. The company mainly deals in cloud-based solutions that merge the powers of AI, machine learning and human intervention to produce transcription, translation and captioning. Human curation and machine together offer high levels of accuracy that is surely more than what can be achieved solely from machines, reads the company’s prospectus.

Since 2009, more than 50 million has been invested in Ai-media’s tech platform. CEO Abrahams already owned almost one-fourth of Ai-Media but now will invest over $340,000 from selling down to 19.2 per cent.

Ai-Media has offices in Australia, UK, USA, Singapore, Norway and Canada. The company has a staff of about 160 full-time employees and a pool of 2000 freelancers, casuals and contractors.

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The role of Foxtel in Ai-Media’s success

on-demand/subscription TV provider Foxtel was AI-Media’s one of first clients. Captioning costs were too high for the Pay TV industry. Consequently, Pay TV providers faced many challenges with more channels and smaller audience shares. At the same time, they were confronted with the same costs to produce 1 hour of captioning. Abrahams and Jones understood the gap and proposed cutting captioning costs by editing the existing international transcripts. This solution allowed a big name like Foxtel to offer more captions across several channels.

The founder duo also presented their technology to an ABC TV show New Investors in 2010 and won an episode. In May 2020, Ai-Media acquired United States-based Alternative Communications Services (ACS), a captioning and interpretation firm. The purchase price was not made public. However, after the transaction Ai-media’s FY 2020 review soared by a whopping 59%. The company reports a pro-forma revenue forecast of $37.9 million for FY 2020 and predicts $43.8 million in revenue for 2021.

Conclusion

Ai-Media’s journey from a small startup to an ASX-listed company highlights its significant impact on accessibility technology, especially for the hard-of-hearing and Deaf community. Founded by Alex Jones and Tony Abrahams, Ai-Media revolutionized the captioning industry by combining AI with human intervention for enhanced accuracy. With a strong foothold in international markets and a portfolio of services like transcription, translation, and speech analytics, Ai-Media’s innovation has played a crucial role in making media more accessible. Its partnership with Foxtel early on helped solidify its position as a key player in the captioning space, and recent acquisitions and market growth are setting the company up for continued success.

FAQs

  1. What is Ai-Media? Ai-Media is an Australian company that provides cloud-based accessibility solutions, including captioning, transcription, translation, speech analytics, and audio description. It uses a combination of AI and human intervention to achieve high accuracy.
  2. Who founded Ai-Media? Ai-Media was founded in 2003 by Alex Jones, who was born deaf, and Tony Abrahams.
  3. What is Ai-Media’s goal? The primary goal of Ai-Media is to create accessible content for the hard-of-hearing and Deaf communities by providing captioning, transcription, and other related services.
  4. How did Foxtel contribute to Ai-Media’s success? Foxtel was one of Ai-Media’s first major clients. Ai-Media helped Foxtel reduce captioning costs by editing existing international transcripts, enabling the company to offer more captions across its channels. This was a pivotal moment for Ai-Media’s growth.
  5. What are Ai-Media’s key services? Ai-Media’s services include captioning, transcription, translation, speech analytics, and audio description, all powered by AI and human curation.
  6. What is Ai-Media’s current market position? Ai-Media is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) with a market capitalization of $177.4 million. The company has international operations and is continuing to expand its reach.
  7. What recent acquisition did Ai-Media make? In May 2020, Ai-Media acquired Alternative Communications Services (ACS), a U.S.-based captioning and interpretation firm, which contributed to a significant revenue increase for the company.
  8. What is Ai-Media’s revenue forecast for the coming years? Ai-Media expects a pro-forma revenue of $37.9 million for FY 2020, with a forecast of $43.8 million in revenue for FY 2021.

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