Vevo Goes Native With Mirriad And Twitter

Vevo is tapping the native ad specialists at Mirriad to mix brand messages into music videos. Kicking things off, Levis is being featured in a video for Aloe Blacc’s hit single, “The Man,” Vevo announced during its NewFront presentation on Monday night.

Mark Popkiewicz, Mirriad’s CEO, described the deal as “disrupting the traditional barriers between content and advertising.”  Expanding on their Amplify partnership, Vevo also said it is working with Twitter on “Certified CountUps” -- an initiative to embed videos (starting with A Great Big World's song, “Say Something”) into targeted tweets from Vevo, brands, artists and fans.

Vevo also announced a new program for video premieres with AT&T. The phone carrier will be integrated into a series of video premieres from top artists, and sponsor Vevo’s first Music Video Premiere Party. Artists and music videos participating in the program were not revealed on Monday.

Among other programming initiatives, Vevo said it plans to invest additional resources into its flagship property, “Certified.” Along with celebrity interviews, “Certified” features videos that have already racked up more than 100 million views, and fans who have watched videos over 100 million times.   

Vevo also announced “Certified Live,” an event slated for this fall, which will include two yet-to-be-named performers. The network expects the show to translate to about 80 pieces of content, including user-generated video and 10 songs from each performer.  

The success of “Certified” and similar offerings helped Vevo post a nearly 50% increase in streams over the past year. Vevo is also debuting “Stylized” -- a style-focused series, which it co-produces with Milk Studios, Made, and Legs Media.

The co-owners of Vevo -- including Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group, Sony's Sony Music Entertainment, Google and Abu Dhabi Media -- are reportedly ready to unload the site.

Late last month, Bloomberg reported that Goldman Sachs was likely being brought in to reside over the proceedings, and potential buyers include DreamWorks Animation SKG, Liberty Media and a joint venture owned by AT&T and Chernin Group.

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