Award-winning company launches Animoto for Business to allow commercial use of Animoto videos

New York, NY, JUNE 24, 2008 - Animoto Productions (http://animoto.com), best known for the web application that lets users quickly and easily create personalized, professional-quality videos from their own photos and music, today released a commercial-use service called Animoto for Business (http://business.animoto.com). Businesses ranging from large enterprises to one-person boutiques can now utilize Animoto’s video creation service to create high-impact videos for any commercial purpose.

“Creating professional-looking video from images and music is difficult and time-consuming, and it requires expensive software,” said Brad Jefferson, CEO & Co-founder of Animoto.  “Larger businesses typically outsource such video creation services for thousands of dollars per video, while smaller businesses settle for suboptimal videos or commonly go without.  Now, Animoto for Business makes it easy and inexpensive for all businesses to benefit from high-end video production.  Anyone, in any role at any business, can create great-looking video content simply by uploading images and music and letting Animoto take care of the rest.”

Animoto for Business is a subscription service that gives unlimited access to create, present, view, and download commercial-use videos.  Subscriptions cost $99 per user for three months, or $249 per user for one year.  With the subscription, Animoto for Business customers gain access to music licensed for commercial use, are able to produce videos with minimized Animoto branding, and are granted access to unlimited DVD-quality video downloads.

For the launch of its commercial offering, Animoto partnered with ten companies across several industries to validate its broad application and showcase the diverse ways in which the service can be used.  Animoto has empowered companies large and small to transform their images into rich, impressive video for a variety of different ends.  From some of the launch partners, which range from photographers, media specialists and technologists to wineries, restaurants and retailers:

- Media Companies
"Animoto brings Getty Images' award-winning imagery and music to life, creating uniquely energetic videos,” said Jeff Beyle, Senior Vice President of Business Development of Getty Images, the global leader in imagery solutions, who uses Animoto for Business to showcase their digital media in new and impactful marketing campaigns.

- Real Estate Brokers
“In this changing real estate market, it's critical to differentiate my properties for sale.  Hands down, Animoto is the best way to make my listings stand out in a sea of houses,” said Herman Chan, a top Prudential broker.  “My sellers love the new innovative format to present their homes.  And my buyers find it hard to forget a listing set to music and movement. Animoto gives me that competitive edge and is a hit with clients!“

- Professional Photographers
“Client reactions to my Animoto video creations have been amazing.  So far, every single one of my clients that has seen an Animoto video has wanted to purchase a copy,” said Donna Rayne of Timeless Images.  “It has made a huge impact for my studio and sales."

More information on how these and other partners are using Animoto for Business can be found on the case study page for Animoto for Business (http://business.animoto.com).

The heart of Animoto is its Cinematic Artificial Intelligence technology that thinks like an actual director and editor using the same sophisticated post-production skills and techniques that are used in television and film.  The technology takes into account every nuance of a song: the genre, song structure, energy, rhythm, instrumentation, and vocals.  No two videos are ever the same; even videos generated with an identical set of images and music will each have a completely distinct set of motion design.  Videos are produced in widescreen format, can be emailed, embedded on any website or downloaded in DVD-quality formats for display on computers, televisions, and even large projection screens.

In recent months, Animoto has received broad industry recognition including awards such as the Web Award for the “Film/TV” category at the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival, the Audience Choice award for best “Creation” startup at the Under the Radar Conference produced by Dealmaker Media, and the best new product in the “Entertainment & Media” category at the American Business awards.

About Animoto
The founders of Animoto Productions include veterans of the entertainment industry who share a passion for helping people share their stories and express themselves through online media by innovating technologies in the field of video production.  Animoto Productions, founded in August 2006, is based in New York City with an office in San Francisco.  Visit http://animoto.com.

* Full List of Animoto for Business Launch Partners:

1. Canlis Restaurant: Top award-winning Seattle restaurant and recipient of Wine Spectators “Grand Award”
2. Donna Rayne, Timeless Images Photography: Iowa-based Professional Photographer
3. Getty Images: Creator and distributor of the world’s best and broadest imagery collections
4. Herman Chan, Prudential California Realty: A top real estate broker in California
5. Heelarious: Extremely funny, completely soft, fully functional high heel crib shoes for babies 0-6 months
6. IndyStar.com: The online edition of the Indianapolis Star newspaper
7. Ross Andrew Winery: Award-winning winery in Woodinville, Washington
8. Smartsheet: Software as a Service (SaaS) provider that gives people a fast, easy way to get things done
9. Social Gaming Network (SGN): Leading global development platform for social game distribution
10. Super Soccer Stars: Youth soccer instruction in a fun, non-competitive, educational environment

Information on how these partners are using Animoto for Business can be found on the case study page for Animoto for Business (http://business.animoto.com).

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