06:25 31.10.2005 | All news from "Internet"
Music video audience migrates to Web
One will feature the online debut of a different musicvideo each weekday. The videos will be available online atYahoo exclusively for 24 hours. Most will be world premieres,though some will have simultaneous TV releases. The focus ismainstream acts.
Yahoo's other new music video service is StopWatch, whichwill highlight emerging acts. Each week, it will recommend oneof three videos from newer artists based on a user'smusic-listening history and stated preferences.
"The Internet is now leading where the music video businessis going," Yahoo head of programming and label relations JayFrank says.
By and large, label executives agree.
"If you look at some of the big projects we've done oflate," EMI senior VP of strategic marketing Ted Mico says,"they've pretty much all launched online."
Even MTV has embraced the Internet. The network launchedits Overdrive site to help keep music video fans engaged withthe MTV brand. In addition, it recently began offering onlinestreaming of its campus-based mtvU channel in an initiativecalled mtvU Uber.
"We took it very seriously that our audience's experiencesaround music have shifted to the Internet," says Amy Doyle,senior VP of music and talent programming for MTV. "There's noquestion it's an amazing platform to showcase music videos."
MAKING MORE VIDEOS
Label executives equate featured placement of a video onAOL or Yahoo with appearing on the cover of Rolling Stone, interms of exposure. For instance, Mariah Carey's "Shake It Off"video received 2 million requests in the first 24 hours it wasavailable on Yahoo Music, compared with 500,000 requests onMTV's "TRL."
The result: More music videos are being made, and watched,than ever before. The number of videos made in 2004 and 2005 sofar outpaces that of the prior three-year period.
One reason labels may welcome this development is thatvideos made with the Internet in mind can be cheaper to producethan those aimed at TV audiences. Videos viewed on PCs, withtheir smaller screens and lower resolution, do not need highproduction values. This allows newer artists with little cashto use videos as effectively as superstar acts.
"The one amazing thing about the Internet is that it is agreat leveler in many ways," Mico says. "If you have a killeridea and can do it cheaply, it can be just as successful as onewith a million-dollar budget."
More important, the Internet is where the viewers are.About 3 billion music videos were viewed on Yahoo's portal lastyear, and AOL says it receives 3 million-5 million music videorequests per day at AOL Music.
Why do fans prefer to watch music videos online, where thevisuals are less sophisticated than on TV? Because the Internetlets users choose from an unlimited library of content foron-demand viewing. TV remains a popular medium for discoveringvideos, but once fans know what they want to see, they tap theInternet to do so.
"MTV is clearly not the place to watch music videosanymore," Yankee Group analyst Nitin Gupta says. "On-demand isreally a compelling way to enjoy music videos, instead of justhaving them thrown at you on a couple of music channels."
This on-demand advantage is augmented by the ability totrack viewing patterns and make customized recommendations, asYahoo will do with StopWatch.
"One signal by one TV channel will unlikely be able tofully entertain a broad audience," Yahoo's Frank notes. "We'reserving millions of individual video streams every week, (and)hitting the mark 98% of the time because we know exactly whatthat person wants. A TV channel will never be able to replicatethat."
Reuters/Billboard
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