Abu Dhabi Media Co. backs Vevo
Music video site launches later this year
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The investment, the amount of which was not disclosed, but is roughly estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars, sees ADMC join Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment as a founding shareholder in Vevo, which is scheduled to bow in December.
Plans are to turn the website into a service akin to Hulu for the music arena, a destination that can lure the millions of fans who currently get their musicvids from sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Yahoo.
The ad-supported Web site will offer Universal’s and Sony’s massive catalog of musicvids, which amount to approximately 60% of all music streamed online. The service will also offer a customized video player users can place on their social networking pages. Google-owned YouTube is providing the technology behind the music player, which will carry video ads of up to 15 seconds preceding the musicvideos.
Along with musicvids, Vevo will offer exclusive content, such as behind-the-scenes vids, live performances and Web series, and is in discussions with several artists to provide such fare.
Of the top 25 videos posted on YouTube, music content represents a 76% share, with Universal and Sony artists identified as the dominant providers, according to a recent survey posted on hypebot.com based on Billboard figures. YouTube will embed Universal’s videos from Vevo instead of licensing the content from music labels.
“What separates us from other venues in this area is scale, which advertisers want,” said a spokesman. “Between Sony and Universal alone, that’s 15 billion streams annually.”
UMG has high hopes for Vevo, having spent millions of dollars developing the project, and is still in talks with Warner Music Group and EMI to contribute content to the site.
The pact is the latest move by the rapidly growing Abu Dhabi Media Co., which also oversees the $1 billion production company Imagenation. The shingle has inked multimillion dollar pacts in recent months with Participant Media, National Geographic Entertainment, Hyde Park Entertainment, Singapore’s MDA and most recently a $10 million development pact with Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald.
“This global partnership (indicates) Abu Dhabi Media Co.’s, commitment to establish a leading position in the digital media industry,” said ADMC chairman Mohamed Khalaf al-Mazrouei.
