Photo: Avicii Facebook
Universal Music Group has announced plans to digitally insert new advertising into pre-existing music videos.
As reported by Buzzfeed, advertising agency Havas and tech company Mirriad are teaming up to include advertising campaigns via “native in-video advertising” as an additional revenue stream.
Unsurprisingly, Universal are keen to point out that not all of their artists on their roster will be affected. Campaigns must be approved by the artist, label, and brand - we suspect you won't be seeing any ads in the Beastie Boys back catalogue for instance, nor supplementary ads added digitally to the likes of The Band, Bjork, PJ Harvey or The Rolling Stones.
So far Avicii, Far East Movement, American Authors and Vanessa Carlton have already agreed and for the moment the site will only run on videos hosted on Vevo (with plans to roll out on Youtube in the near future).
Universal's Lucian Grange said in a statement: "Through innovative technologies such as Mirriad’s, and leading global agencies such as Havas, we can offer our artists additional opportunities to generate revenue from their Mirriad music videos. And with Mirriad’s highly customizable platform, we have the ability to insure that artists’ and brands’ interests are aligned while we remain focused on presenting fans with the most compelling music experience possible.”
As anyone who has seen a conspicuous Beats soundbar feature prominently in a R&B vid recently, product placement is already rife in videos. The question is: would digitally inserting further advertising in matter and will users complain? One suspects that the 106,881,038 people who have already watched Far East Movement's 'Like a G6' wouldn't really have minded if an additional Grand Marnier poster had been included in the background. Also given the lack of paid for downloads and the increasing move to a streaming model, the industry does need to look an alternative sources of income.
However one wonders whether, in the manner of George Lucas tinkering endlessly with Star Wars, whether there is a risk of ruining the original character of the videos. The other most pressing point is that by the time you arrive on a website (which has ads), sit through the pre-roll advert on the video, then watch a video that features prominent product placement, will the end result will be worth watching?
