Vevo Bolsters Its Programming and Monetization With New Data Science Capabilities

Latest intelligence tool labels the visual elements of Vevo’s vast music video library, helping create more relevant CTV programming blocks and nuanced ad targeting

NEW YORK, NY (March 2, 2023) – Vevo, the world’s leading music video network, today revealed a new data science capability to support the creation of more impactful programming and ad products across Vevo’s expanding connected TV (CTV) footprint. Now internet-enabled, the TV screen is delivering more value to the music industry than ever before, due to the vast consumer adoption of smart TVs, the ability to quickly curate and deliver niche programming, and as an additional revenue stream through advanced advertising.

Vevo has partnered with artificial intelligence company Hive to process each Vevo music video, second-by-second, and label elements of interest, such as logos, items, and themes, within each video. These tags are then inputted into Vevo’s proprietary machine learning model to group music videos by their respective elements. This process enables Vevo to program CTV viewing blocks and create custom advertising packages, specific to a common theme or element. For example, music videos tagged with the same keywords, such as “beach” and “party”, can be bundled together for a “beach party” viewing hour, which can then be sponsored by a brand.

“Vevo is consistently working with various data models to maximize the commercial and promotional value of the music video, particularly on our linear TV channels, which offer a unique environment for showcasing and monetizing our curatorial expertise. We previously utilized AI to help us group music videos by the mood, utilizing audio and lyrics. Now, we are adding another layer, applying similar capabilities to the visuals of our music videos,” said Eyal Golshani, vice president, data science, Vevo. “As the Vevo library continues to grow, these innovations help our dedicated programming and sales teams to surface and index content quickly, yet thoroughly.”

Vevo’s linear TV channels are accessible across major FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) services, such as The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, and Samsung TV Plus. Each channel features 24/7 music video programming dedicated to a specific genre (e.g., Country or Hip-Hop), decade (e.g., ‘80s or ‘90s), or event (e.g., Holiday). Similarly to the traditional cable TV experience, Vevo channels include ad breaks and hour-long viewing blocks, each block catering to the time of day, artist releases and milestones, seasonal events and cyclical moments, and more.

“Our data science team is one of Vevo’s greatest assets, and we are learning so much about our vast catalog through this new capability,” said Aneessa Steilen, vice president, media and distribution marketing, Vevo. “Advertisers are increasingly looking for ways to reach the right audience at the right time, and their targeting strategies have evolved to incorporate context and interests, especially as third-party cookies are deprecated. By being able to detect scenes, objects, and logos, we can purposefully bundle our content into more contextual, brand-suitable opportunities. From a National Pizza Day program to a sports pre-game hour, the synergies we can facilitate between brands and our custom programming will also keep audiences more engaged.”