Yahoo, whose music-streaming partnership with Vevo reportedly hasn't been generating much user interest, is taking another shot, announcing a new deal with the service to bring live concert events, original music programming and thousands of Vevo's music videos to Yahoo Screen.
Vevo is a joint venture of Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group, and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has a small stake in it as well.
The new deal will include more aggressive promotion of Vevo's videos, including on Yahoo's front page. Vevo music videos will also be featured on Yahoo properties internationally, not just the United States, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Yahoo is banking heavily on its video properties, hoping to grab a much bigger chunk of market share away from short-form heavyweight YouTube. It's clearly hoping that Vevo's popularity on YouTube--seven of the 10 most popular videos on the streaming service are Vevo music video--will encourage viewers to transition over to Yahoo Screen, which launched last September. Currently, Yahoo sits in fifth place among video sites, with 384 million unique views as opposed to YouTube's 12.6 billion views in January, WSJ reports.
The search engine and email provider is also looking to bolster its video property beyond entertainment. Yahoo is in talks to acquire white-label syndication service News Distribution Network for $300 million and may soon order four original Web series, possibly half-hour comedies. The company also hired TV news veteran Katie Couric in November 2013 to be "the face of Yahoo News," according to CEO Marissa Mayer.
For more:
- WSJ.Digits has this story
Related articles:
Yahoo, Google reportedly plotting more 'conventional' TV plays
Yahoo hires Katie Couric for online news role
Yahoo introduces Yahoo Screen site, app