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Ahead of a possible initial public offering, music hub Vevo is trying to negotiate a new ad pact with Google’s YouTube, The Post has learned.
Vevo — backed by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and the Abu Dhabi Media Company — is a standalone Web destination that is also hosted and streamed on YouTube. Vevo gets 65 percent of the ad revenue versus YouTube’s 35 percent.
Vevo, run by CEO Rio Caraeff, is looking to boost its share of ad revenue before it considers going public, which could happen in the next 18 months, according to sources, who confirmed the talks between the two are ongoing.
Since Vevo launched about two years ago, the competitive landscape has changed dramatically for its backers. Universal plans to shed minority-owned assets to gain regulatory approval for its proposed purchase of EMI’s recorded music business. Sony is also growing with its agreement to acquire EMI’s publishing division.
Meanwhile, YouTube has been busy announcing its own music-themed channels in partnership with the likes of Madonna, Jay-Z and Pharrel Williams in order to boost ad revenue.
Last week, Google announced its own music discovery platform, Google Music, and plans to create a rival to Apple’s iTunes.
Google’s properties drew 187 million unique visitors in October, according to comScore, which doesn’t break out results for YouTube. Vevo ranked 16th among all online destinations last month, attracting 63.6 million visitors. Vevo declined to comment.
“Vevo’s a great partner and we look forward to working with them in the future,” a YouTube spokesman told The Post.