LONDON, UK — Owned-and-operated platforms are nice – but there is plenty of proof that going for wide distribution through other people’s channels can succeed very well.
Case in point – Vevo.
The music video network owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music is using modern streaming TV platforms to rekindle an old idea.
Music TV
“Ultimately, we want to go back to the roots of being a music TV network,” Richard Brant, Director, Advanced TV, UK & International, Vevo, told me in an interview at Beet.TV’s London summit in December.
“We’re just a modern-day version of that, using all of the platforms at our fingertips in order to do so.
“We make official content. There’s no filler, it’s all killer. It’s all made-for-TV videos from those labels.”
Leaning into CTV
To do that, Vevo has amassed distribution relationships across a plethora of providers.
Specifically, that is 31 providers in a number of different countries: YouTube, Apple TV, Comcast, Echo Show, Fetch, Fire TV, Foxtel, Foxxum, Google TV, LG Channels, Hisense/Vidaa, Local Now, Netrange, NowTV, Pluto TV, Redbox, Rlaxx TV, Rogers, Roku, The Roku Channel, Samsung, Samsung TV Plus, Shaw, Sky Q, Telstra TV, T-Mobile, Vewd, Virgin Media, VIZIO Smart TV, XITE and Xumo.
Vevo has amassed 26 billion monthly views and 1.5 billion hours viewed per month by relying on carriage with other suppliers.
“We are very much kind of leaning into that,” Brant says. “Our goal really is to be there for the viewer. We are not making our own platform and restricting how it’s distributed. It’s about where the viewer wants to watch that music video.
“Because of that, we get huge amounts of views across the world.”
Half the country
Whilst Vevo’s initial launch proposition was as a mobile and desktop network, now the company is increasingly watched on connected TV devices.
Viewership from those screens has increased from around 25% in 2017 to 30 to 40% now, Brant says.
“If you look at the likes of UK alone, for example, now the TV screen uniques a month we get through the TV screen is 12 million. That’s not small by any means, he says.
“Across platform, we’re (at) around about about half the country is watching a Vevo video every month.”
As Vevo’s advertiser pitch goes: “Music videos are back in the living room.”
You’re watching “Looking Ahead: TV in Europe 2025” a Beet.TV Leadership Summit presented by Magnite & Publica, in partnership with egta. All videos were filmed on-site at our event at London’s Soho Hotel. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
