Vevo Expands Into Australia, New Zealand
Vevo is expanding into Australia and New Zealand.
Vevo is expanding into Australia and New Zealand.
The video streaming company launches a new sales office in Sydney and taps Steve Sos as managing director, who will be tasked with “growing its commercial profile” in the region.
Sos joins from music identification specialist Shazam, where he served as managing director Asia Pacific.
Also joining Vevo’s new operations Down Under are Tim O’Connor, head of sales and Thomas Bannon, sales manager, both formerly with digital marketing firm dataxu.
“It is a very exciting time for Vevo as we bring our mission to maximize the commercial and promotional value of music videos and artist content into Australia and New Zealand,” comments Alan Price, CEO of Vevo on the development. “We welcome Steve to the team and look forward to seeing him successfully lead our office in this growing marketplace.”
Vevo has had a strong Australian presence since its early days. The on-demand video platform launched here in 2012, through a partnership with locally-based MCM Media, a producer of entertainment content for radio, digital, TV and events.
ANZ was just the third regional operation for Vevo, a joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Abu Dhabi Media, which arrived July 2009 in the United States and Canada, and entered the U.K. and Ireland in April 2011.
Its international expansion was overseen by Nic Jones, the Australian-born, London-based executive who joined the company in 2011 as senior VP, International under then-CEO Rio Caraeff, and went on to become chief revenue officer, before leaving the company in 2016.
Today, Vevo boasts approximately 10 million monthly unique viewers in Australia and 2.2 million in New Zealand, explains Kevin McGurn, president sales and distribution Vevo. Expansion into the APAC region “was a logical next step for the business,” he continues.
“The reach and results we continue to deliver for marketers and agencies across every screen in North America and Europe are significant. I am confident we will do the same for those in Australia and New Zealand looking to align their brands and campaigns with the biggest music stars on the planet.”
Australia’s recorded music industry is on the rise, thanks largely to the strong performance of streaming platforms. The territory posted revenue of A$526 million ($374 million) in 2018, up 12.26 per cent, according to the most-recently published trade data by ARIA, which attributed to growth to paid such subscription services as Apple Music, Deezer, Google Play and Spotify, and non-subscription on-demand brands YouTube and Vevo.
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