An animation firm has grown six-fold as COVID-19 has created a generation of video-makers.
Viddyoze鈥檚 technology allows people to create and use their own video animation in three simple clicks and is now being used in 250,000 videos every month worldwide.
The growth in demand has already seen the tech firm鈥檚 turnover grow dramatically and the business is trading at an annual revenue rate in excess of 拢24m.
The SaaS company attracted 10,000 new customers in April, a six-fold increase on February鈥檚 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: 鈥淓veryone wants to make content and it just so happens that our platform allows people to make content easily or improve the content they鈥檝e already got.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a space where we鈥檝e had a business for five years and we are pleased that the business continues its straight line growth despite the pandemic.
鈥淚t鈥檚 forced people to use technology like Zoom and Google Hangouts and it鈥檚 the same with making video.鈥�
Viddyoze is attracting around 850 new customers a day, partly because it鈥檚 been able to increase its advertising budget as global advertising rates have dropped during the lockdown.
Chamberlain explained: 鈥淢y wife is a dog groomer who hasn鈥檛 been able to groom dogs during the lockdown because of social distancing.
鈥淲hat she did was shoot some videos for her customers to show them how to keep their dog鈥檚 coat in good condition during COVID-19. She鈥檇 never made video content before.
鈥淚f you apply that across the world there are millions of people now making video content for the first time.
鈥淪hooting a video is one thing but adding an introduction or an animated call to action at the end is what we do. We enable people to improve their video by adding these animated elements.鈥�
Viddyoze employs 13 people at its base in Preston, Lancashire, and another 18 people around the world. Staff have been working from home since March.
Chamberlain said: 鈥淥ur turnover was consistently growing but recently we implemented a new marketing strategy and we are happy that despite COVID-19, our efforts have paid off.
鈥淲e鈥檙e on track to break 拢2m in sales for the month of May alone which will be a company record. The great news is that all signs are pointing to long-term, sustainable growth. We鈥檙e on course to triple turnover this year with 拢25m being firmly in our sights.
鈥淭he cost of advertising has gone down so we鈥檙e able to reach a lot more eyeballs. Rather than being down to one thing, our growth is down to a lot of things coming together at the same time. It鈥檚 the perfect storm in a way.
鈥淥ur generation has been forced into making video content. People aren鈥檛 afraid of it. Parents home schooling their kids are making video content because they have time on their hands. Even after the pandemic is over I don鈥檛 think they鈥檒l revert back to what they did before.鈥�
Viddyoze鈥檚 customers include giants like Tesla, Sony and PwC to churches and SMEs. It has 1,500 templates on its platform.