Post says VEVO exploring other partnerships

CHANGE PARTNERS: VEVO is exploring other, potentially better, business opportunities outside of YouTube, the N.Y. Post reports, echoing revelations from our own I.B. Bad. Although 3.2 billion of VEVO’s monthly views come from people accessing the music-video service through YouTube, 30% of VEVO’s views in the US, Canada and Europe come from outside of YouTube, according to AdAge. Facebook is responsible for 100 million views a month, and VEVO execs are hoping rapidly growing traffic from the social network will help them reach a point where half of their traffic is coming from outside of YouTube. By the end of 2012, Vevo CEO Rio Caraeff expects to have as many U.S. viewers off of YouTube as on YouTube. “The activity on Facebook is our greatest chance to get to 50% of views off of YouTube,” he told AdAge. Facebook views also have a financial bonus: While Vevo shares ad revenue with YouTube, the company doesn’t have to share it with Facebook. Vevo’s distribution deal with YouTube comes up later this year, and the Post has reported that Vevo has already started renegotiating to retain a greater portion of its ad revenue. Separately, Vevo and Facebook are reportedly discussing a partnership. (4/9a)