After more than three months of negotiation, Vivendi has completed its deal to buy online video provider DailyMotion from its parent company, Orange. Vivendi purchased an 80 percent stake in the company for $241.8 million (€217 million).
Exact details of the transaction were not made available, but Orange will keep the remaining 20 percent of the OTT company.
The purchase of DailyMotion is a clear move by Vivendi to speed up its addition of OTT services and compete in the online video space. Vivendi owns several other media and entertainment companies including Universal Music Group and Canal Plus Group, Variety notes.
In addition to a streaming platform, DailyMotion will give the conglomerate access to additional streaming music, video content, live-streamed gaming and premium content.
DailyMotion currently sits at a distant second to online video giant YouTube, its most direct rival. It reported about 351 million visits via desktop computers, compared to 15.2 billion similar visits to YouTube. But combining its service with those provided by other Vivendi subsidiaries might shift that needle a bit.
For example, Universal Music Group is a part-owner of music video service Vevo, which is one of the top YouTube channels, and which doesn't shift much content to DailyMotion, TechCrunch reports. That arrangement could change now that the deal is final.
For more:
- see this Variety story
- see the Vivendi release
- see this TechCrunch story
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