Google looking to make strategic $50M investment in Vevo to keep its high-quality music content on YouTube

9to5 Staff

Two weeks ago, we heard Google planned to invest in Vevo. Today, those rumors heat up with some specifics…

Bloomberg has the story:

Google Inc.’s YouTube is negotiating a $50 million equity investment in music video service Vevo LLC, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.
Google would own less than 10 percent of the company, giving Vevo a valuation of at least $500 million, said the people, who asked for anonymity because negotiations are still early and an agreement may not be reached.
The investment would be part of a broader contract to keep Vevo’s music videos on YouTube, the people said. Vevo, formed in 2009 by Vivendi SA’s Universal Music and Sony Corp.’s Sony Music Entertainment, and Google last year extended their existing contract until April.

Some of the most valuable (and clicked) content on YouTube is from Vevo-associated Artists. Vevo previously threatened to leave YouTube, so the investment would be to secure long-term access to the content advertised on and monetized by affiliate links to buy music.

It is also important to Google’s ecosystem to have easy and cheap access to all of Vevo’s content.

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Report: YouTube to launch paid subscriptions between $1 and $5/month by spring

Jordan Kahn

YouTube Ad Blitz

We heard last summer straight from YouTube chief Salar Kamangar that Google’s video service considered introducing subscription-based content that would rival traditional cable channels and see users paying a fee to access some partner channels. Today, a report from Ad Age, quoting “multiple people familiar” with YouTube’s plans, shared some additional details.

According to the report, YouTube will not only charge somewhere between $1 and $5 per month for access to certain channels, it will also charge for some “content libraries and access to live events, a la pay-per-view, as well as self-help or financial advice shows.”

YouTube has reached out to a small group of channel producers and asked them to submit applications to create channels that users would have to pay to access. As of now it appears that the first paid channels will cost somewhere between $1 and $5 a month, two of these people said. In addition to episodic content, YouTube is also considering charging for content libraries and access to live events, a la pay-per-view, as well as self-help or financial advice shows.

Ad Age’s sources said the service could launch as early as the second quarter of 2013 with around 25 channels and a 45-55 revenue split for content creators: Read more

YouTube’s top trending videos of 2012: Gangnam Style, Gotye, KONY 2012, Call Me Maybe, Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney, more

Jordan Kahn

YouTube is once again doing its annual “YouTube Rewind” to shed some light on the top-trending videos of 2012. Google updated its YouTube Rewind Channel to include the last year’s worth of the most popular YouTube videos alongside some stats for each. For instance, Google noted the KONY 2012 30-minute documentary was the most shared video in the world during March, but PSYs’ Gangnam Style was able to top the majority of lists after approaching 1 billion views and becoming the most viewed YouTube video of all time in less than half the year.

YouTube’s top trending list globally is below, followed by the list for Canada, but you can head over to the YouTube Rewind Channel to see the top-trending videos for your country.

Top Trending YouTube Videos:  

  1. PSY – GANGNAM STYLE (강남스타일) M/V 
  2. Somebody That I Used to Know – Walk off the Earth (Gotye – Cover) 
  3. KONY 2012 
  4. “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen – Feat. Justin Bieber, Selena, Ashley Tisdale & MORE! 
  5. Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney. Epic Rap Battles Of History Season 2. 
  6. A DRAMATIC SURPRISE ON A QUIET SQUARE 
  7. WHY YOU ASKING ALL THEM QUESTIONS? .. #FCHW 
  8. Dubstep Violin- Lindsey Stirling- Crystallize 
  9. Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen.
  10. Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic freefall from 128k’ – Mission Highlights 

Top Trending YouTube Videos in Canada: Read more

Google rolls out improved video sharing for YouTube & Google+, adds public YouTube videos to Google+ profiles

Jordan Kahn

Custom-Text-YouTube-upload

Google announced today on the YouTube Creator blog that it is today rolling out new features for sharing videos on YouTube, Google+, and elsewhere. Now, when uploading a video to YouTube and sharing it directly with social networks, YouTube will allow you to customize the message displayed alongside your video, as highlighted in the image above. Google explained:

Now, when you upload your videos to YouTube, you can write your own post to your fans… Where will this post appear? In YouTube feeds, the text will be merged into the upload feed item (exactly the same as if you were to upload a video, then make a channel post about the same video, but without the extra effort).  This also works with the scheduled publishing feature, offering you even greater convenience… As the video and post will be shared to your other connected social accounts as well, you no longer have go to each site to manually customize a post for each video.

Google also noted that it would add users’ public YouTube videos to the Videos tab on their Google+ page if they have opted in to connect the two accounts: Read more

YouTube to star Call of Duty: Black Ops II gameplay in real-time

E. Betters

YouTube is all about live streaming lately, and now the video-sharing platform has announced COD (ahem—slang for “Call of Duty”) players can soon stream their gameplay when Activation launches the latest title for its popular franchise next week.

“Call of Duty Elite takes the live streaming experience even further, letting viewers on Elite see the player card of the user that is streaming,” announced Activision in a press release. “With just a couple clicks, viewers can dig deeper to see such information as class loadouts, recent match data, as well as career stats across supported Call of Duty games on Elite.”

The partnership essentially allows gamers to watch exploits in real-time multiplayer Call of Duty: Black Ops II matches for free. The deal is coushiony for Google and Activision, too. The Internet Giant gets engaging content to bulk its website, while Activation lands premium promotion.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II launches worldwide on Nov. 13, presumably at the $60-something price mark, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC. The title will also release in North America on Nov. 18 for the new Wii U.

Pre-orders are available at Amazon: 

Get the press release below for more details.

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YouTube live streaming Austin City Limits music festival all weekend

Jordan Kahn

The Austin City Limits music festival is kicking off today, and YouTube is live streaming the entire event all weekend long at youtube.com/aclfestival. The live webcast will begin today at 11:30 a.m. PST. As for what acts you can expect to see:

The lineup is, if we can be immodest, stellar. Jack White and his hat. Florence Welch and her Machine. Iggy and his Stooges. You can snag time with headliners you’d never get so close to in real life, including The Roots, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Childish Gambino. Or check out rising indie sensations like Kimbra, Polica and Alt-J. Don’t know all the acts? Check out our playlist 10 Must-See Bands @ACL.