July 9-10, 2013
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Rumors are circulating that the music service might be packaged alongside Google’s YouTube in an attempt to help capitalize on the video site’s popularity with music videos, according to a Fortune report published today.

The report indicates that the YouTube music service, which already has support from two major music companies, would run on a paid subscription-based model and likely provide users with an ad-free experience. The YouTube subscription service also wouldn’t take away from the company’s efforts to create a digital music locker with Google Play.

I’m a bit skeptical of the idea that Google would create an all-encompassing subscription service for music that would compete directly with streaming music leader Spotify — especially one that removed advertisements. Google is an advertising company at heart, and YouTube is firmly focused on video, not music. Also, YouTube basically already provides an on-demand music service that’s on par with Spotify. You can already create and share playlists of music videos, and you can use all that music via third-party apps that integrate with YouTube (much like Spotify’s app platform).

What could happen, however, is YouTube giving artists or labels the ability to offer people ad-free YouTube subscriptions on a case-by-case basis to increase the amount of money they’re making from Google.

YouTube sent VentureBeat the same statement it sent to Fortune regarding subscriptions, which eludes to partner subscriptions being a possibility:

“While we don’t comment on rumor or speculation, there are some content creators that think they would benefit from a subscription revenue stream in addition to ads, so we’re looking at that.”

This also wouldn’t be the first time YouTube has talked about giving its partners — whether they be music artists, TV networks, etc. — the capability to offer subscriptions. The video site has already started reaching out to some of its channel partners about the new subscription model, as VentureBeat reported back in January.

Music image via DGDESIGN/Shutterstock

July 9-10, 2013
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In what would become a very expensive game of musical chairs, Google is interested in making a $50 million investment into music video service Vevo.

The investment would give Google a 10 percent stake in the company and boost Vevo’s estimated valuation to about $500 million, according to a Bloomberg report that cites anonymous sources familiar with the deal.

Vevo holds the rights to music videos for most major music artists and its library of content brings in a significant number of unique views to Google-owned YouTube. And while Vevo currently has a lucrative contract with Google to keep its content on YouTube, the music video service has hinted at making a deal with Facebook in the past.

The new investment from Google, according to Bloomberg’s sources, would prevent Vevo from jumping to another partner as well as extend its exclusive contract. (That contract is set to expire in April.)

If true, the news wouldn’t be a complete surprise. Last year, Google made several attempts to bring in content to YouTube, including its $200 million investment  premium channel partners and a $35 million round of funding for video game media company Machinima.

July 9-10, 2013
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A new study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau says that most of our mobile video watching actually isn’t very mobile at all.

Sixty-three percent of video-watching on mobile phones, the study said, happens right at home, sweet home. And 36 percent that is right in the front of another, bigger screen: a home theater system, laptop, or a tablet. In other words, the researchers say, mobile video isn’t a way to kill minutes wasted in lineups or something to do when there are no other entertainment options, and this has implications for what kinds of video content brands and entertainment companies should focus on creating.

“We need to see mobile as a primary screen for on-demand consumption, not as an afterthought,” digital agency 360i’s president David Levin said in a statement.

The IAB did not speculate on why supposedly “mobile” video is mostly consumed at home, but this makes a lot of sense. Not only is your phone the most personal device — the go-to device wherever you are — but video consumes a lot of bandwidth. Data costs money when on cellular networks, and it’s typically much slower than on your own home Wi-Fi.

What do we watch? Almost exclusively entertainment content, strongly trending to music videos. There’s a reason Gangnam Style is the most-watched video in history.

• Music videos (45 percent)
• Movie trailers (42 percent)
• Tutorials/How-To’s (41 percent)
• Funny short video clips (37 percent)

What we share with others, though, is a little different: Funny clips and music videos are the most likely to be shared; tutorials and movie trailers are not nearly as viral.

Of course, the Interactive Advertising Board is interested in the use of mobile video for marketing purposes. How do people feel about mobile video ads?

• 53 percent said they’re OK with mobile video advertising
• 48 percent said video ads should relate to the video content they’re watching
• 44 percent remember seeing video ads (10-15 second spots are the most memorable)

The small but intensive study — just 200 participants — lasted for two weeks.

photo credit: mark sebastian via photopin cc

July 9-10, 2013
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Music video company Vevo continues to experience its fastest growth on mobile.

The service accumulated more than 1.3 billion streams from mobile devices in the second quarter of 2012. Vevo grew its monthly mobile active users by 33 percent sequentially to 5 million people. The company has also witnessed a total of 18 million downloads to date of its smartphone and tablet apps, according to data published this morning.

Tuesday, the independent music video company, created in partnership with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and the Abu Dhabi Media Company, released a quarterly report highlighting viewership activities.

The report cites some of Vevo’s most impressive statistics. The company said that 103 million music videos are watched on any given day, and that 40 billion music videos were watched globally through its service between July 2011 and July 2012.

The service averaged 429 million monthly viewers during the second quarter of 2012, an increase of 5 percent from the same time last year. It also increased monthly video streams in the same period by 9.6 percent, averaging 3.2 billion streams during Q2, according to the report.

Mobile, however, remains Vevo’s most promising star.

The company said that mobile traffic was up 463 percent year-over-year, and that mobile traffic nearly doubled between the first and second quarter of this year. Vevo counted more than 450 million mobile video streams in June. Mobile users are also now watching an average of 15 videos each month, according to the report.

The YouTube partner is racking up the mobile video views through dedicated applications for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry Playbook, and through YouTube’s Android app. Vevo’s service also works in mobile web browsers.

In case you’re wondering, and we know some of you are, Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” was the top music video during the second quarter. The inescapable track racked up 125 million views during the three-month period.

Photo credit: Sean Molin Photography/Flickr

July 9-10, 2013
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Two of the biggest companies in the tech industry, Facebook and Google, are interested in grabbing a piece of popular music video site Vevo.

The tech giants are competing for an equity stake in Vevo as well as a lucrative advertising deal with the site, according to a New York Post report that cites two unnamed sources.

Vevo is an independent music video company created in partnership with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and the Abu Dhabi Media Company. The video service is currently generating 45 billion video views a year, and it plans to expand beyond the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. to six additional countries in 2012.

Initially, Vevo grew in popularity thanks to its presence on YouTube and by having the rights to all the official music videos from popular artists. However, the music video service experienced a huge boost in traffic and engagement after integrating with Facebook’s Timeline — a detail Facebook is keenly aware of.

Now that both Google and Facebook see the potential in Vevo, they obviously want a stake. The real question here is what will be the more lucrative move for Vevo.

The New York Post’s report indicates that Vevo’s current deal with YouTube is set to expire later this year. And while Vevo wants to avoid distributing its licensed content through a single provider, it might be able to use the competition with Facebook to renegotiate a better agreement with Google.

We’re reaching out to Vevo for further comment, and will update the post with any new information we find out.

Image via Vevo

Less than two weeks after a relaunch featuring deeper ties to Facebook, music video service Vevo is seeing a record number of video views per person and is now netting 3.5 billion total views a month.

Vevo, the independent music video company created in partnership with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and the Abu Dhabi Media Company, has seen video views per person jump 70 percent and Facebook sharing climb 100 percent since its March 9 relaunch, CEO Rio Caraeff said in a video interview with paidContent.

The video service, which is now attracting 45 billion views a year, also plans to expand beyond the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. to six additional countries in 2012 and is seeing the fastest growth on mobile and tablet devices, Caraeff said.

The new Vevo experience, seen on web, mobile, and television (by way of a new Xbox application), is rich with Facebook-infused personalization features. When you log in via Facebook, for instance, the service scans your Facebook activity to create playlists from shared or “liked” artists and tracks.

It’s a rather brilliant integration that takes advantage of Facebook users’ previous listening actions and provides the easiest way yet to sit back and stream. Of course, since the entire experience exists on top of Facebook’s Open Graph, video viewing behaviors are pushed back to Facebook, creating a powerful, viral loop that Vevo is clearly noticing.

Vevo is just one of many companies feeling the Facebook effect. Pinterest, Viddy, Foodspotting, and several others are all noticing remarkable upticks in activity and new users since releasing applications on Facebook’s new Open Graph platform.

Vevo, according to paidContent, made $150 million in revenue in 2011 and has paid out $100 million in royalties in the last two years. Thirty percent of video consumption in the U.S. is now happening off of YouTube, Caraeff said.

Coinciding with the South by Southwest festival in Austin, a slew of major companies are finally offering apps for Facebook’s new Timeline.

The new Timeline apps include Foursquare, VEVO, The Onion, Fandango, and others.

The new apps join more than 3,000 Timeline apps that have launched in the past two months, according to Facebook product manager Austin Haugen. Companies like Pinterest, Fab, and others have reported massive growth due to Facebook’s Actions, a way for third-party apps to push their data to your Timeline.

For the most part, the apps seem pretty straightforward: The Foursquare app will let you share your check-ins, badges, and the like on your Timeline, while the Onion app will let you share articles from TheOnion.com directly to your Timeline. The music video site VEVO will also let you log into its website with your Facebook credentials to get access to personalized video playlists, see what your friends like, and post videos.

Other new apps include entries from Viddy, Endomondo, and RootMusic. Viddy’s app will let you collect your short videos you create on the service on your Timeline, Endomondo will help you to share your fitness activities, and RootMusic will let you keep track of your favorite artists and mark future concerts.

Honestly, I haven’t spent much time on my Facebook Timeline since enabling the feature months ago, but it’s nice to see these apps focusing on offering something useful to other Facebook addicts. It seems like we’re moving away from the more spammy and throwaway apps to things that will actually enhance your Facebook experience.

Check out a gallery of screenshots from the new apps below.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

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YouTube may have already picked the biggest videos to hit the web this year, but there’s a host of great videos that didn’t make the cut. From vigilante cyclists to deadpan taxidermists to obligatory cute kittens, the web was full of strange, funny, sad and infuriating events and characters.

We decided to cap off the year with a list of 10 viral videos we especially liked. While you’ve probably seen at least half of these, there’s a good chance you haven’t seen them all. In trying to define “viral,” we’ve decided not to count any stunningly made professional videos. No music videos starring the notorious Rebecca Black or mega-popular Katy Perry, no crazy views of Earth from space and no stunning visions of the future are in the mix here.

Here are the top 10 viral videos of the year:

Bike lanes in New York City

New York City has been cracking down hard on cyclists this year for not riding in designated bike lanes. Although there are some cyclists who blatantly ignore laws and streetlights (I live there and constantly worry about being biked down), there’s wide mix of violations from pedestrians, drivers and bikers alike. In a move of defiance, one cyclist who gets an unfair ticket decided to make a video of what happens when he only rides in the bike lane. The results are quite funny.

Cat mom hugs baby kitten

Even though it was included in YouTube’s year-end list, we couldn’t help but include this cat-and-kitten clip in our list as well. It’s one of the most watchable clips we’ve seen in a long while because it’s just so darn cute. As much as my grandmother and I have radically different tastes, we both really love this clip.

Chatroulette Love Song

The Chatroulette service — which lets people video chat with other random people — might have been a fad that died off in 2010, but the site and potential to use the service remains. One enterprising band decided to create the “Chatroulette Love Song,” which features a man and his band singing a love song to a girl he meets on the service. It might be the best thing to ever come from the service. Well, unless seeing random male genitals all the time is your thing.

Japan Earthquake: Helicopter aerial view of tsunami waves

The humongous earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March was one of the most-covered pieces of news of the year. The disaster caused more than 15,000 deaths and 5,000 injuries. Russia Today spliced some of the most harrowing early footage together while the event was still happening and posted it to the web. The result is a terrifying look at the power of a tsunami as it uproots homes and businesses like it’s nothing. It became viral because of the news, but it had staying power as a document to one of the year’s most important events.

Nyan Cat

Whether the flying rainbow “nyan cat” falls into the hilarious, surprising or infuriating camp depends on your personal preference, but there’s no denying the song and video was a meme that wouldn’t go away. The nyan cat video has more than 54 million views to date and has inspired countless parodies and related videos. There’s even someone who liked nyan cat enough to turn the repetitive ditty into a 10-hour-long version, which has more than 9 million views itself. That’s a lot of nyan.

Click this link to see the final 5 viral videos of 2011!

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July 9-10, 2013
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Irish band The Script have opened for U2 and appeared on CNN, but they made their TV debut on Stephen O’ Regan’s balcony in Dublin.

O’ Regan runs BalconyTV, a home-made TV show in which new bands perform on apartment balconies from Mexico to New Zealand. The company just pitched at Startup Bootcamp’s investor day in Copenhagen.

“One day in my apartment in Dublin about 5 years ago we had the silly idea to start doing an Internet show from our apartment balcony,” says O’ Regan. “I had come out of film school and I’d already made a film that had become quite successful on Youtube. We wanted to have a new show every single day so we started inviting local bands to perform on our balcony. Very quickly we were being contacted by bands all over Ireland who wanted to play on our balcony.”

Now BalconyTV operates in 22 cities all over the world and has been contacted by potential hosts in over 100 cities. The resulting 6,000 original music videos have been viewed over 3 million times.

BalconyTV hosts are all volunteers, although they may seek local sponsorship. “We give people a document saying ‘This is the structure of the show, these are the opening graphics that you need,’ ” O’ Regan explains. “We invite them to do a few test shows. If the test shows are good enough we give them a license to produce. They must commit to producing a certain number of shows per week.”

Despite its underground success, BalconyTV doesn’t currently make money. O’ Regan is keen to change that. The first step is to establish a centralized production team to maintain quality and package all the content. “We would like to develop our content, package it in a number of formats and license it to TV stations around the world. We also want to sell the rights to create BalconyTV to broadcasters,” he says.

A BalconyTV merchandising site is being launched but the real money is in sponsorship of the show by big brands and in selling the content and format to TV stations. BalconyTV plans to license to 200 TV stations in the next 2 years.

There are a couple of similar shows around the world like the UK’s Black Cab Sessions and France’s Takeaway Shows. Neither operates in more than one country as BalconyTV does, and both shows focus on emerging artists rather than complete unknowns.

BalconyTV was founded in 2008, is based in Dublin (or as O’Regan says “It’s based on my laptop”), has a team of 3 supplemented by 100 volunteers worldwide, and is privately funded.

Startup Bootcamp funded the travel and accommodation required for this story.

July 9-10, 2013
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Vevo, the music video site jointly created by YouTube and music labels, is eyeing a new editorial focus with the hire of veteran journalist Jim Macnie as its editorial director.

Macnie, who previously served as managing editor of VH1.com for nearly a decade, will help maintain a consistent editorial voice on all of Vevo’s offerings, including its website, mobile apps, and connected TV apps. Vevo boasts that it has a catalog of over 45,000 music videos and original programming.

The news marks a new direction for Vevo, which initially began as a way for YouTube to offer high-quality, legitimate music videos. Music videos will still be the mainstay of the site, but the additional editorial coverage could help it find a bigger audience. Vevo showed impressive growth last year, when it reached 141 million unique visitors globally.

Macnie will report to Scott Reich, Vevo’s VP of original content and programming. His work has previously appeared in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Village Voice, among other publications.

July 9-10, 2013
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Internet meme Rebecca Black is back and surprisingly, her follow-up to fail sensation “Friday” is not that bad. Her new video “My Moment” launched Monday evening, and it looks and feels a bit like videos from other teen starlets like Selena Gomez.

Black’s first video “Friday” amassed a staggering 167 million views on YouTube before the video was taken down from the Internet briefly about a month ago. Her fame and ridicule were powered by social media, with Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms helping create one of the most-watched YouTube videos ever.

When it comes to “My Moment,” YouTube viewers do not seem to be in a forgiving mood and have already given the video more than 65,000 dislikes vs. 38,000 likes at the time this article was published. No doubt both of those counts will rise quickly as the song tears across the Internet.

Like most YouTube videos, many of the user comments are profane and over-the-top. A sampling of some of the more civil comments gives insight to what some users are saying:

Disliked the video:

“Her ‘moment’ will not actually last long.” — datawraith3080.

“Sweet girl. Bad voice.” — Janefrigginlee

Liked the video:

“With this song, I bite my tongue. I couldn’t just stop laughing with her song “Friday.” It was completely ridiculous, but this song is SO MUCH BETTER.” — Monikita0193

“To be courteous, I will say that this song is much better than Friday. Honestly, that song was so annoying that I had mistaken it for a troll.” — TheEmcronin

To be clear, “Friday” sounded like a pop song made in a factory, and the accompanying music video looked like a distillation of other popular videos, even including a pointlessly perplexing verse from an unknown rapper. Even though “Friday” made its fame on being “the worst pop song ever” (an overstatement but not by much), it had strong sales on iTunes, and the high video count suggested quite a few repeat viewings. Perhaps the song had more fans than the Internet would suggest.

Black recently appeared in the popular video for singer Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night.” Black’s next move will be to release a 5-song EP in August, with “My Moment” as the lead single.

The full video for “My Moment” can be found below. What do you think?