BURLINGTON, Mass., Dec. 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avid® (Nasdaq:AVID), a leading global media technology provider for the creation, distribution and monetization of media assets for global media organizations, enterprise users and individual creative professionals, along with Avid Customer Association (ACA) leadership, today announced the opening of the second annual ACA Vote to help prioritize Avid's product and innovation roadmap for 2018 and beyond, as well as exclusively gather unique insights and viewpoints from the media industry's preeminent customer and user community. Results from the vote will be revealed in front of the ACA membership at the fifth annual Avid Connect conference (April 6-8, 2018), to be held immediately before NAB 2018 in Las Vegas. Through its rapid enrollment process, the ACA is also helping qualified TV, film and music professionals who are not yet taking part in the ACA to easily join the association and deliver their own opinions before the first round of voting closes in early February 2018.

The ACA Vote, first launched last year, resonated loudly and had a positive and rapid impact for the community: within nine months of unveiling the inaugural vote's results at Avid Connect in April 2017, Avid has already released more than 60 enhancements, features and products called for by voters who represented 4,000+ organizations across 109 countries. In addition to influencing Avid's innovation priorities, the inaugural vote also polled the community's viewpoint on key technology trends, which last year underscored the importance of cloud infrastructure, IP connectivity, UHD/4K content creation, and virtual and augmented reality.

"The media landscape is presenting new opportunities for innovation, largely driven by the digital shift that is altering consumer habits, influencing business models and changing many fundamental elements of how media enterprises are thinking about their business operations, and how creative professionals are thinking about their production workflows and content supply chain," said Darren Long, Sky's Director of Production Services and Board Co-chairman of the Avid Customer Association. "The ACA's annual vote provides a unique and effective forum for the media community to have a direct voice into the strategy, technology direction and product roadmaps of one of the industry's most influential media technology suppliers. At the same time, our massive and growing membership has become the best possible means for anyone to obtain a vivid and comprehensive outlook on the technologies underlying this multi-billion dollar industry."

Following its mission to also foster greater understanding of industry challenges and opportunities, as part of the ACA Vote this year, the ACA leadership and Avid have appointed Devoncroft Partners -- one of the leading research providers covering media technology — to help expand the efforts of surveying, capturing and analyzing the valuable viewpoints from the community on evolving business dynamics, emerging trends and technology directions that are important to the media industry. Avid and the ACA, together with Devoncroft Partners, will present the key outcomes of this survey during Avid Connect 2018.

"The Avid Customer Association has doubled in size to more than 20,000 members since our inaugural ACA Vote last year because the industry clearly saw the privilege and benefit of ACA membership with its direct and actionable impact on Avid's strategic priorities, allowing us to best address their most pressing needs through our products and solutions offering," said Avid Chairman and CEO Louis Hernandez, Jr.  "We love this time of year at Avid and the ACA. The vote's opening kicks off the countdown to the big moment of Avid Connect, when any professional in television, film and music from individual creatives to media enterprise leaders will get the true measure of our industry's technological aims and opportunities, and get to work on them with us.  Avid is proud to be the only vendor committed to working in concert with stakeholders across the media business on the unprecedented scale of ACA."

Participate in the ACA Vote
Round one of the second annual ACA Vote will end in early February 2018. Round two will enable the community to vote on the top findings from round one. Register to vote at: www.avidcustomerassociation.com/vote.

Reserve a spot for Avid Connect 2018
Thousands of ACA members convene for the annual Avid Connect events, which immediately precede National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conferences each year. The fifth annual gathering, Avid Connect 2018 (April 6-8, 2018 at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel), will give attendees the opportunity to interact and explore "Innovation in Action" across the global media and entertainment industry. Register to attend at www.avidconnect2018.com.

About the Avid Customer Association
Participants throughout the media and entertainment ecosystem are confronting increased pressures and competition as digital disruption is impacting content creation, management, delivery and monetization.  In response, Avid, along with its customers, established the ACA as the world's most innovative and influential media technology community representing organizations and professionals from all levels of the industry—fostering deep collaboration between Avid and the people who are most passionate about capturing opportunities to thrive amid industry change and disruption.  Any professional working in media and entertainment can improve their opportunity, understanding and connectivity through ACA membership, which is free of charge for any qualified member of the community.  Learn more at www.avidcustomerassociation.com.

About Avid
Through Avid Everywhere®, Avid delivers the most open and efficient media platform, connecting content creation with collaboration, asset protection, distribution, and consumption.  Avid's preeminent customer community uses Avid's comprehensive tools and workflow solutions to create, distribute and monetize the most watched, loved and listened to media in the world—from prestigious and award-winning feature films to popular television shows, news programs and televised sporting events, and celebrated music recordings and live concerts. With the most flexible deployment and pricing options, Avid's industry-leading solutions include Media Composer®, Pro Tools®, Avid NEXIS®, MediaCentral®, iNEWS®, AirSpeed®, Sibelius®, Avid VENUE™, Avid FastServe™, Maestro™, and PlayMaker™. For more information about Avid solutions and services, visit www.avid.com, connect with Avid on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, or subscribe to Avid Blogs.

© 2017 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Avid, the Avid logo, Avid Everywhere, Avid NEXIS, Avid FastServe, AirSpeed, iNews, Maestro, MediaCentral, Media Composer, PlayMaker, Pro Tools, Avid VENUE, and Sibelius are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Product features, specifications, system requirements and availability are subject to change without notice.

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