has decided to team up with Google’s money-hemorrhaging video site YouTube for a joint venture called Vevo, which will apparently “highlight” clips from the major-label behemoth and make money for everyone (maybe even artists? Haha, just kidding!) via ad revenue. What does this mean for you, the end user? Well, clips that use UMG-owned music—which right now are only available for YouTube viewing if you venture over to the site—will be embeddable on third-party sites, thanks to “a special VEVO branded embedded player,” which reads to me like code for “you’ll be clicking through lots of ads before you see that new Lil Wayne clip.”
Doug Morris is pretty excited about this:
“VEVO will bring the most compelling premium music video content and services to the world’s single largest online video audience,” stated Mr. Morris. “We believe that at launch, VEVO will already have more traffic than any other music video site in the United States and in the world. And this traffic represents the most sought after demographic for advertisers, especially as advertising dollars continue their shift from old media to new. VEVO will be uniquely positioned to monetize this opportunity and a host of others as we grow it to become “the” destination for premium music video content online. For music lovers who want the best in music videos, the VEVO experience will be second to none. At the same time, VEVO will expand the premium video marketplace, generate new revenue streams for content creators, and provide brand advertisers an unprecedented opportunity to get in front of a highly engaged audience. We couldn’t be more excited about the huge potential we see in the VEVO service.”
I would imagine that Vevo will follow the “high-definition walled garden” approach that has proven to be successful for Hulu; whether the other majors will sign on as well (and whether indies will be allowed to join the party at all) is up in the air—particularly Warner, which is still tussling with YouTube over royalty payments.
It’s Official: YouTube, Universal Music Launching New Video Site [Media Memo]
Earlier: Major Labels Try To Get Back Into The Video-Distribution Game
I actually don’t mind the ads and stuff on content like this, and this doesn’t sound like a terrible idea for once.
I’m with Lucas on this. TV ads never bothered me and neither do web ads. Someone has to pay the bills. This is at least a reasonable acknowledgement that people aren’t going to pay directly to watch music videos online but they do want to see them.
Maybe it’s due to my web business ignorance but I don’t understand how a site with the enormous amount of traffic YouTube generates could be hemorrhaging money. I dunno…banner the shit out of it, you guys! And what about that blank panel on the left-hand side?
I never thought I’d ever say/write the words “sell ad space like crazy” but here we are…
It costs a lot of money to stream video online.
video ads can be great and entertaining… it’s like at the movies, i wanna see trailers too….
Vevo doesn't work in my country
this does http://www.tv243.com
also grabs music videos to shuffle from youtube
love it because i cand find similar artists like last.fm
many thanks for the information!
Hi awesome post – you should make a youtube video on it ! if you need help send me an email ! also I recently created a blog it would be great if you could look at it and tell me what you think. Thanks !!!!!