Vevo turns up the volume on connected TV, expands potential reach for advertisers

The new Vevo TV app has been launched in partnership with several leading video platforms, including Amazon Fire TV. The announcement marks the online music video content provider's latest foray into connected TV. Vevo announced today that it has released a new and improved version of its Vevo TV app, which is currently only available on Amazon Fire TV but will be launched on other platforms by the end of this month. The company has framed the announcement as the latest innovation “at the intersection of digital and television,” two media spaces that have been steadily converging in recent years. Vevo has managed to stake a sizable claim for itself in the ever-profitable music and entertainment industry by becoming one of the leading providers of online music video content. Videos hosted by Vevo currently receive around 25 billion views per month, per data provided by the company. The platform’s quick rise to the pinnacle of the industry can be glimpsed in the size of its YouTube subscriber base over recent years: it was around 8.5 million on this day in 2015, according to Trackalytics. It’s currently well over 19 million. The new TV app has been designed to provide a more hands-off and personalized user experience. Videos will now auto-play for users as soon as the app is opened, giving it the feel of live TV. Additionally, users’ video feeds will now be algorithmically tailored to reflect individual tastes, search histories, and preferences; the more you use the app, the more customized and precise your video feed will become. “The new version of the app is a culmination of all of the learnings that we've taken since really diving deep into connected television,” says Kevin McGurn, president of sales and distribution at Vevo. This latest version of the app, he says, “is a hybrid of what linear looks like — being able to program to people and give them things that they might want to watch — and then offering control with video on demand. And also the ability for someone to enter into our app environment, and immediately start experiencing our content. All of those things are part of what today is, in hindsight, an obvious upgrade to what music television has always been. But we had to learn along the way.” For its new product, Vevo has teamed up with a handful of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (vMVPDs), including Amazon Fire TV, Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Roku. These partnerships, the company says, coupled with its capabilities across the online, mobile, and social spaces, provides it with “a robust multi-platform presence which platforms and brands alike can benefit from.”Vevo’s growing viewership, paired with the technological infrastructure behind its new app, presents a valuable opportunity for advertisers, says McGurn. “When you have the opportunity to look around and find audiences that are hard to reach — demographically, geographically, and seasonally — you're looking for options, you're looking for opportunity… you have to be cognizant of where the marketer needs to reach its audience and tell them about their products. And we're a really good opportunity there.”For more, sign up for The Drum's daily US newsletter here.

Vevo turns up the volume on connected TV, expands potential reach for advertisers

By Webb Wright | Junior Reporter

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