Sohonet rebrands 5th Kind acquisition as Storylink for studio-scale collaboration

The transition to Storylink signals Sohonet’s consolidation of its 2023 acquisition of 5th Kind into a unified production-to-enterprise workflow. By centralizing asset libraries, studios can reduce friction between active production sets and downstream business units like marketing and licensing. As the industry faces a shift toward 'profitability over volume,' tools that maximize asset reuse and streamline the high-end approval process become critical technical infrastructure. Watch for deeper integration between Storylink and Sohonet’s real-time ClearView toolsets to see if the company can capture more of the post-production lifecycle in a single cloud hub.

The rebranding of Core to Storylink follows Sohonet's March 2023 acquisition of 5th Kind, a move aimed at bridging the gap between real-time production and long-term asset management. This expansion was backed by private equity firm LDC, which invested in Sohonet in March 2021 to accelerate its international growth and acquisition strategy, according to reports from LDC and Consultancy.uk [March 2021]. At the time of the acquisition, Sohonet CEO Chuck Parker noted that the goal was to create a 'creative-centric asset hub' that could handle the data-intensive requirements of modern 4K and VFX workflows.

In the years since the acquisition, the media and entertainment industry has navigated a volatile landscape, including the 2023 labor strikes and a subsequent push for operational efficiency. Per Sohonet’s own 2025 industry analysis [April 2025], production volumes were projected to rebound with a 5% to 8% increase in activity, though the focus has shifted toward high-value, sustainable content rather than sheer volume. This shift aligns with broader enterprise digital asset management (DAM) trends where ROI and asset reuse are paramount.

Recent product updates from Sohonet, including the July 2025 release of 'Branded Projects' for its FileRunner tool, suggest a consistent strategy of providing studios with high-control, project-centric environments. As creative teams in 2026 increasingly function like product teams—using modular content and reusable libraries—Storylink competes in a space where interoperability with tools like Box and secure, identity-managed access for global vendors are baseline requirements for enterprise-grade production stacks.