Vevo acquisition readies YouTube, Spotify rival; unveils 2015’s top videos

Vevo, America’s largest music video platform, has acquired Showyou, a subscription-based video streaming platform that helps users find video content that might appeal to them. 

It is part of Vevo’s widening of its services to music discovery and curating. The Showyou buy puts it in a stronger position to compete more directly with premium paid products like YouTube Red, and Spotify, which recently added video offering.

“With the acquisition of Showyou we take a significant step forward in re-positioning Vevo as a best-in-class product-driven organization,” said its new President and CEO Erik Huggers, who joined in April from Intel and the BBC.

Vevo is a joint venture of Universal Music Group, Google, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media, to distribute music videos from major record labels. Initially it dispersed its videos – now numbering 150,000 HD music videos with 12 billion global views a month – through YouTube.

But of late, it is moving to be more independent of YouTube. Under Huggers, it is additionally relying less on web advertising and more on subscription and new revenue. Reports are that Vevo is in talks with Warner Music Group.

Next year’s consumption of online video should also see a 20% to 57.6 minutes per day, according to Zenith Optimedia, with the online video advertising market growing to US$19.8 billion worldwide .

Showyou started four years ago in San Francisco, initially to deliver curated short-form videos. Last year it introduced a subscription model, giving payers access to content from providers as NASATV, the Associated Press, The Onion, Red Bull, ABC News, Buzzfeed, Reddit TV, Funny Or Die, VICE Media, ABCNews. Content creators determine pricing for their own channels.

The platform was set up by a company called Remixation founded in 2008 by Mark Hall, along with co-founders Scott Persinger and Spencer Miles, and backed by venture capital firm True Ventures. Seven of ShowYou’s employees will move over to Vevo to expand its products. Remixation is now winding down, a spokesperson confirmed.

In the meantime, Vevo has unveiled its Top 10 most viewed videos of 2015:

1) Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk: 1,135,011,558

2) Taylor Swift - Blank Space: 1,055,708,218

3) Maroon 5 – Sugar (2015 debut): 908,567,807

4) Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do (2015 debut): 842,425,620

5) Taylor Swift - Shake It Off: 762,904,682

6) Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass: 692,419,231

7) Taylor Swift - Bad Blood (2015 debut): 656,351,040 

8) Adele – Hello (2015 debut): 593,957,168

9) Sia - Chandelier: 593,251,569

10) Enrique Iglesias - Bailando (Español): 533,037,712