Vevo expands in Australia, appoints Steve Sos as MD

Vevo is building its presence in Australia and New Zealand with a new sales office and the appointment of a new chief.

Steve Sos will lead the video streaming company’s new operations in the role as Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand.

Based in Sydney, Sos joins Vevo from Shazam, where he served as Managing Director, Asia Pacific.

New faces to the team include Tim O’Connor, Head of Sales and Thomas Bannon, Sales Manager, with further appointments expected to be announced in the weeks ahead. Both join from B2B digital marketing company dataxu, where O’Connor served for a year-plus stint as ANZ senior sales manager and Bannon was account director.

The announcement, made out of London, is accompanied with some rare data on Vevo’s users numbers in these parts.

According to Kevin McGurn, President Sales and Distribution at Vevo, the company boasts roughly 10 million monthly unique viewers in Australia and 2.2 million in New Zealand. Expansion into the APAC region was “a logical next step for the business,” he continues.

Vevo is looking to grow its array of commercial and distribution partnerships in Australasia this year.

“The reach and results we continue to deliver for marketers and agencies across every screen in North America and Europe are significant,” McGurn says. “I am confident we will do the same for those in Australia and New Zealand looking to align their brands and campaigns with the biggest music stars on the planet.”

Vevo launched 2009 in North America as a joint venture of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Abu Dhabi Media and YouTube owner Alphabet, with a minority stake owned by Warner Music Group.

The service rolled out the following year in the U.K. & Ireland. Next up was Australia, where it arrived in 2012 through an exclusive partnership with local digital content business MCM Media.

Today, the streaming platform reaches 26 billion monthly views globally, and has 450,000 music videos in its catalogue.

“It is a very exciting time for Vevo as we bring our mission to maximise the commercial and promotional value of music videos and artist content into Australia and New Zealand,” comments Alan Price, CEO of Vevo in today’s statement. “We welcome Steve to the team and look forward to seeing him successfully lead our office in this growing marketplace.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.