YouTube Unleashes Vevo Music Vids on Mobile* (*Android Only)
Vevo's collection of music videos has finally come to YouTube mobile — but only on Android phones. — The initiative, which is live now, means 10s of thousands of Vevo music videos Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Universal …
Context & Ripple Effects
YouTube Mobile has existed since 2007 as a thin companion to the desktop site, and this is the first time its licensed tier catches up: tens of thousands of Vevo videos — sourced from Universal Music Group and Sony BMG — now stream inside the Android app, ads attached. The syndicated pickup at TechCrunch frames why the timing matters: YouTube says its mobile traffic tripled in 2010.
The Android-only restriction is the story within the story. With an analyst predicting 2011 as Android's breakout smartphone year (a forecast, not settled fact) and the iPhone-Android rivalry already running hot through late 2010, Vevo's catalog becomes a platform-exclusive asset rather than neutral distribution.
First-order effects
- Android owners gain ad-supported access to the full Vevo catalog of label music videos in-app, while iPhone users are cut off from that same content on mobile — a direct split in what each platform's users can watch.
- Universal Music Group and Sony BMG pick up a new mobile advertising surface for their catalogs, with YouTube carrying the delivery and the ad load.
Second-order effects
- Apple faces added pressure to match the deal on iOS or watch premium licensed video tilt toward Android as a differentiator in the ongoing handset war.
- If mobile viewing keeps scaling at the rate YouTube reported for 2010, ad inventory inside these exclusive app placements becomes a bargaining chip in the next round of label-licensing negotiations.
Third-order effects
- Licensed media catalogs are becoming leverage in the platform wars — rights holders can extract distribution terms per OS rather than treating mobile as one uniform market.
- The pattern points toward music video consolidating around a few heavily provisioned apps tied to platform alliances, at the expense of the open mobile web where YouTube started.
The trend: Premium licensed video is migrating onto smartphones via exclusive app-level deals, making platform allegiance — not the open web — the gatekeeper for label catalogs.