Thank you for sharing @Unifollower. It is more enlightening to...

Thank you for sharing @Unifollower.

It is more enlightening to read JB peel back the curtain a smidge on the IMG deal in this email than what we hear in the webinars.

“We are part of a large-scale project and a complete relaunch of the IMG Replay service.”

Curiously, several years ago IMG Replay contracted with IMAGEN, the leading SaaS video management platform business, to manage all of their media more efficiently and through a cloud- accessible platform. Imagen has been around for years and have a complete solution for asset media management that keeps clients’ content safe and accessible in a timely manner.

According to Imagen’s IMG Replay case study, the ability for clients to remotely access content 24/7 in the cloud was a top priority. With the Imagen platform, both IMG Replay staff and external clients can access the assets whenever they need to.

In addition, IMG Replay wanted to boost productivity by reducing the amount of time spent managing assets. With all the assets located in a single platform, clients can now quickly search across the entire collection of sports-content managed by IMG Replay. Once the relevant asset is found, clips can easily be created, formatted and licensed for whatever film or TV productions, social or web platforms are needed.
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Per Tom Barnes, Global Vice President of IMG Replay, (the same guy who contracted with Linius) “The search feature is so powerful it allows us to find what we need in seconds. And thanks to Imagen’s powerful time-based metadata logging, we can even find specific moments within videos and clip them for use. This not only saves time, but allows us to make better use of our collections too.”
Imagen Stories - IMG Replay (youtube.com)

IMG Replay Case Study | Media Transformation Success (imagen.io)

Doesn’t this all sound very familiar? Why on earth would they use Linius’ Whizzard when they’ve already got the leading product, Imagen?

In addition, in 2019 Imagen was selected by Major League Baseball (MLB) to manage and distribute its library of game highlights. The MLB Classics Portal provides a centralized video platform for broadcast partners around the world. The system contains over 10,000 MLB media assets; including game recaps, player specific packages, ‘top five moments’ clips, and will serve over 60 broadcasters in 36 countries.

The most interesting point, however, is Imagen were bought out this year by no less than Reuters (market capital USD $65 billion & 25,000 employees).

Imagen will become a part of the Reuters News division.

The acquisition is part of a plan to serve more clients as they expand their streaming video businesses. "Our belief is that our agency business needs to evolve to be a tech-enabled content delivery," Reuters President Paul Bascobert said in an interview.

"With the addition of Imagen, clients will have the ability to seamlessly add media asset management services to store, manipulate, permission, distribute and monetize all their visual content."

Reuters currently serves agency clients including the BBC, USA Today and China's CCTV.

It hasn’t been revealed how much Reuters paid, other than that Reuters are aggressive in the acquisition space:

“The deal is the second announced this week. On Monday, Thomson Reuters said it agreed to buy Casetext, a California-based AI company that helps legal professionals conduct research, analysis and prepare documents using generative AI, for $650 million.
Thomson Reuters has said it has earmarked $10 billion for acquisitions and about $100 million per year in investments in AI capabilities.”

Thomson Reuters to buy digital content management company Imagen | Reuters

Per JB’s email, “Due to the complexities and multiple vendors involved, this project is not yet deployed, but expected shortly. The initial deployment is for a very specific use case.”

I wonder if Reuters is one of these “multiple vendors” involved? Either they logically are, or Linius has displaced Reuters in a deal.

Either outcome bodes well for Linius and may explain why sophisticated investors and management continue to support the company in spite of its precarious financial position.

According to JB, “IMG have much larger plans for Replay and Linius is part of it.”

If true, instead of falling off the cliff, Linius may well be headed for the Big Leagues.

Imho & Gltah