Facebook wants to power Vevo, replacing YouTube (rumor)

Facebook is trying to woo Vevo away from Google's YouTube and over to the social network's platform. Discussions are still preliminary; meetings have reportedly occurred between Vevo and Facebook at least twice, the most recent one taking place within the past two weeks. Even if this rumor is accurate, however, Vevo's contract with YouTube won't expire for another year, according to sources cited by CNET.

Facebook wants to power Vevo like YouTube currently does: the social networking giant would stream the music videos, and the two companies would sell ads and share the profits. The advantage for Facebook is obvious: yet another feature for its users, meaning they will spend more time on the site. For Vevo, it may simply come down to trying something new, and arguably more profitable (Facebook has over 800 million monthly active users). Menlo Park is undoubtedly pitching the advantages of how much more "social" Facebook is compared to YouTube, and the resulting advertising advantage.

Vevo is the second biggest service providing online video, as of last month, while Facebook is fifth. If Facebook could pull off this deal, it would finally be able to say it's a viable competitor to YouTube. The company would no longer have to just depend on its own users uploading videos, as this would be the first time where the company has a contract to stream video content.

Launched in 2009, Vevo offers music videos from three of the top four record companies: Abu Dhabi Media with EMI content, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group. Google built Vevo's back end and the videos are best known for appearing on YouTube. Facebook could take all that over, and further expand its repertoire of music offerings on the social network.

See also: