Vevo Celebrates 10 Years of Music Videos

The music video no longer dominates MTV, but it is alive and well on premium platform Vevo, which is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year. Vevo is home to over 400,000 official music videos, along with exclusive original series and performance content. The platform has seen daily views skyrocket more than 300% over the past five years, currently averaging over 800 million, with that figure approaching 1 billion on Saturdays and Sundays. It was founded June 16, 2009, as a joint venture between major record labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI. Warner Music Group reached a deal with Vevo in August 2016 to license premium videos from its artists to the streaming service. The day after the company’s 10th anniversary celebration in New York, senior vice president of sales Jesse Judelman said in an interview: “Each of us has a story about the music video they remember growing up. There is a newfound momentum. Music videos are every bit a part of pop culture as they’ve been.” According to Judelman, videos from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s are being watched at high rates on Vevo’s platform. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” from Guns N’ Roses, which debuted in 1987, recently topped the 1 billion view milestone. [kickout id="1"] Current events tip the scales on Vevo. Viewership for R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” soared 2,855% during the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections in the U.S., and the solar eclipse in 2017 drove up views of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” 410% at the time. [kickout id="2"] [kickout id="3"] Vevo also said its flagship artist development programs, such as Lift and Dscvr, have helped introduce then-emerging talent including Billie Eilish, Khalid, Alessia Cara, Halsey, Lewis Capaldi and CNCO. “I like to call us a media unicorn,” Judelman added, noting that Vevo is reaching 30 million to 35 million people per month via over-the-top platforms, and it saw its audience within the Amazon Fire environment double from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of this year. Judelman said Vevo plans to add Pluto TV and Samsung TV Plus to that list in the coming months, explaining: “We thread that needle uniquely as one content provider partnering with all those platforms. We want to make sure our content is everywhere, accessible to all audiences, and deliver those audiences on behalf of marketers in a brand-safe, clean way.” Content from Vevo is available on platforms including YouTube, Amazon, Apple, Roku, Sky, Virgin Media and Vewd. Vevo CEO Alan Price said in a release: “Over the past 10 years, we have seen incredible growth in consumption of music videos across the globe. Visually representing artists’ creativity, music videos are now an essential part of pop culture, and Vevo has played a pivotal role in delivering them to a global audience. The past decade has seen monumental changes in the music, technology and advertising ecosystems. This milestone acknowledges Vevo’s own evolution and recognizes the value we’ve created for artists and all of our partners. We look forward to the next 10 years and beyond, continuing on our mission of maximizing the commercial and promotional value of music video.”