UPDATED: This article now includes quotes from Adshare Chief Executive Jason Peterson
In a surprise move, copyright identification company Adshare said it had purchased Latin music YouTube multichannel network Primo Media. The terms were not disclosed.
Adshare, of Los Angeles, has technology that identifies copyrighted music and audio on YouTube videos and helps intellectual property owners claim the advertising dollars generated off that content. New York’s Primo Media represents Latin music artists to online advertisers, giving them a way to make more money through branded music video partnerships.
Companies like Adshare have been mostly focusing on spreading their copyright technology services beyond YouTube to platforms such as SoundCloud and Facebook. By vertically integrating with Primo Media, Adshare is expanding its core offerings beyond technology into advertising.
“It was a perfect fit because we were sitting on content that we hadn’t formally organized as a MCN,” said Adshare Chief Executive Jason Peterson of the company’s Latin music clients. “When we looked across our portfolio we realized we had a huge asset we were underutilizing.”
Acquiring Primo Media adds a new dimension to Adshare; an advertising sales team with branding experience. Consumers can now think of the company as the “Latin MTV” or “Hispanic Vevo,” said Peterson. Vevo is a premium music video and entertainment platform.
Primo Media’s branding operations should allow Adshare to sell higher grossing advertisements.
“We’re basically packaging and selling our clients’ social media influence,” said Peterson. “We’re in the middle of a project right now with an artist called J Alvarez. Miller (Brewing) made a couple hundred thousand dollar ad buy with us. They wanted to market to the J Alvarez fan base. They are embedding their product in a music video. They are a sponsor of some live shows that he’s doing. And he’s going to send some social messaging.”
Primo Media sees an average of 50 million monthly views in the United States and 400 million views in Latin America on YouTube, Adshare said.
Adshare also announced that it had launched a standalone Latin music video website named VidaPrimo.com. The website will use a proprietary video player, which will allow Adshare to collect a higher percentage of advertising sales, instead of sharing revenues with YouTube. The company said it had lined up a number of advertisers in advance of the launch.
Technology reporter Garrett Reim can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @garrettreim for the latest in L.A. tech news.
