One Smart (TV) Call For Vevo; One Giant Leap For Music Videos

Vevo chose the latter path, and Kevin McGurn, the company's president of sales and distribution, is crystal clear it was the right one. Before this week wraps up, he'll join fellow senior executives to invite advertisers and media buyers to direct more of their 2020-21 budgets in the same direction. That stage: the annual IAB 2020 NewFronts

"We've become a very simple opportunity for people to shift dollars from TV into what we think is just enhanced TV or advanced TV," McGurn elaborated in the midst of his pre-NewFront Jack Myers Leadership Conversation last week. "We want to have a top of the funnel and bottom of the funnel mentality, and have a multicultural, and local, and programmatic opportunity for anyone to buy, and however they would like."

With a catalog of more than 450,000 music videos, covering genres from hip-hop to hard rock, Vevo's ad-supported service now runs through many smart TV sets and products in linear and on-demand formats. Moreover, that dedicated YouTube channel is getting more play through TV sets than via other platforms.

In each of the last two years, the service has increased viewership by 40 percent, and currently is on a 30 percent growth track in 2020. Eighty percent of Vevo's audience is adults 18-to-49. Average viewing time per session: 60 minutes or more.

McGurn called the smart TV switch an interesting ride. "The technology is finally catching up with how users want to watch their video. Not just music video, but all types of videos, TV shows and movies," he said. "So we've been able to pace with the innovation that these original equipment manufacturers have put into the market and start to give the control back to the viewer for what they want to watch."

This will be the first time in a great while that Vevo has made its case before a NewFronts crowd. McGurn and colleagues will bring some star power to its presentation, thanks to international superstar Katy Perry, Vevo's top all-time female artist. "She's a huge fan," he adds. "A huge supporter of ours over (the) years. She's an absolute pro. She has a very authentic view of what our business does for the artist community."

Why return to the NewFront scene? "We had to make a big effort to remind the advertising community of music videos' place in culture," answered McGurn. "For the first time, we don't have to rent out Carnegie Hall or Radio City (Music Hall) to have a highly-produced (event) with videos and celebrities. We can reach advertisers and remind them (that) the viewership is actually much more than it ever was."

And at the same time, remind the ad community that Vevo is dedicated to drawing the public to new and veteran talent alike, and cultivate a more diverse rainbow of music idioms. "Hip-hop has been a huge part of our business, but also you see the rise of Latin music," McGurn explained. "This is a global phenomenon that is not specific to any one geography or any one culture. We're trying to give the opportunity for fans to discover new music and new genres."

Unilever, a participant in an earlier Leadership Conversation, is "a really good example of somebody who takes advantage of us on multiple levels, including the multicultural budgets they put into the market," adds McGurn. "These are smart folks (with) mixed marketing models they know how to affect."

With artificial intelligence-powered voice features becoming mainstream in smart TV products, Vevo anticipates the introduction of interactive content and commerce over the near future. Count on more first-run videos and original programs exploring social themes.

"Artists are the most creative people in the world. They produce content more rapidly than any other media," McGurn concluded. "They are always the most recent and loudest voice that we can point to, and that's what we're here for. We get to fly in the stratosphere, so close to these geniuses."

All Jack Myers' Leadership Conversations are available 24/7 on-demand here.

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