Vevo has elevated Tim O’Connor, formerly its APAC head of sales, to become its general manager of APAC sales, as it eyes a huge expansion of its business in the region.
The change means that Steve Sos, Vevo’s APAC managing director, has departed after three years in the role and five years with the company.
B&T sat down with Rob Christensen, Vevo’s executive vice president of global sales in Cannes and Tim O’Connor in a slightly brisker Sydney, to chat about the news and Vevo’s plan moving forward.
Christensen thanked Sos for his efforts but said there was significant green space for O’Connor in the new role.
“Tim’s done a great job over the last five-and-a-half years and we’re excited for him to have this opportunity. He will be focused on the full scope of APAC. We’re starting to see really good advances in Southeast Asia, Japan and potentially India,” he said.
O’Connor said it was a “great opportunity” for him personally but also for the business to further build its APAC team to capitalise on the “momentum” it has in the wider region.
“We’ve been here since January 2020 and in growth mode ever since we’ve been in the market,” said O’Connor.
“We’ve had a cracking start to the year, the business is in fantastic shape. We’ve grown [revenue] by about 46 per cent in the first half and had record quarters in Q1 and Q2. There’s a lot of energy and excitement around the business. But it’s now building on that momentum and continue to bring on more clients in the region. We’re seeing about 3.2 billion views across our APAC markets each month so there’s plenty of opportunity for our advertising partners.
“People haven’t realised the full potential of Vevo. They don’t know where to place us. YouTube’s our largest distribution partner globally and here in Australia and throughout APAC. People are sometimes unsure whether we’re YouTube, BVOD, SVOD. I think it’s starting to crystallise in agencies’ and brands’ minds where we fit into the greater landscape.”
By its reckoning, Vevo stands to be significant beneficiary of the growth in CTV.
“We’re observing big viewership changes [in the region] and in connected television viewership,” added Christensen.
“We’re seeing large volumes, especially in our top 10 artists there. But pricing is a challenge and all things are on the table. Do we run it out of Sydney? Do we use a reseller as we do in Latin America, Canada, Italy and Europe?
“About 36 per cent of our viewership in Australia happens on CTV. Roughly a third of viewership in other major markets happens on a TV screen, which is a massive amount viewership—a third of 21 billion. For us, we treat that as its own offering. Nothing that happens on a CTV screen looks the same as mobile.”
“Southeast Asia has historically been a mobile-dominant market,” added O’Connor.
“But we’re seeing really strong growth rates in connected TV which presents an exciting opportunity to grow our advertising business across what is, ultimately, made for TV content.
“What we’re trying to make clear in the market is that we’re not exclusively on YouTube. We do distribute our content on CTV endpoints such as Foxtel and Samsung. For us, it’s exciting to meet fans wherever they so—whether that’s FAST, linear or connected TV. We’re giving advertisers more ways to align with our culture-shaping content.”
Vevo now has 15 distribution partners globally, including Foxtel and Samsung TV Plus, Roku and Hulu.
It is a confounding time for media owners, with audiences fragmenting across multiple, emergent channels and premium content no longer commanding the same reach as it used to—with the exception of live sports and, as Vevo’s numbers attest, music.
The Vevo team is pinning its hopes to a couple of trends (as well as CTV growth) that are starting to crystallise in the market—the importance pop culture to drive connection and brand safety.
“Brands increasingly want access to pop culture moments and the APAC markets are no different. We provide brands with priority access to some of the world’s most-viral content that is directly influencing these pop culture moments… Our artists shape trends across fashion, dance and even influence the way we speak. All of that creates great opportunity,” said O’Connor.
“We index every video that comes in and 85 per cent of the library is brand safe. If a brand is uncomfortable with content, then we’ll block it. We’re very conscious of brand safety. We have to be and it’s a big part of why you would partner with us, especially on YouTube which is an ocean of impressions,” said Christensen.
“Some brands realise that the moment of a new video from an artist will be so big, so relevant that even if it’s a little risqué at times, they still want to own it to be part of that conversation.”
Christensen and O’Connor both identify the explosion of country music as emblematic of Vevo’s advertiser offering, being able to move with culture and quickly, without appearing contrived, but also delivering huge scale.
“Country is huge. Whether it’s Luke Combes or Post Malone, the numbers are staggering. We look at CTV and the artist franchises that we’ve built, if you stand them alone as their own IP, they’re just as impressive as the biggest sporting match or awards show that anybody could invest in on an upfront basis,” said O’Connor.
“The artists we represent shape culture. They’re the ultimate influencers,” said O’Connor.
At a time when attention is scarce, that scale could be a significant differentiator for brands. Time will tell but if O’Connor and the Vevo team can keep up the momentum they’ve created in the first half of this year across APAC, Vevo will certainly be a channel worth watching.
