Warner Music Group (WMG) has partnered with MTV’s Music Group to give MTV exclusive rights to sell ad inventory around WMG’s music video content in the U.S. across MTV Music Group digital properties and mobile services, as well as on WMG’s artist sites and third-party affiliate sites.
Through the new partnership, WMG artists will also be able to to promote their music through MTV’s content channels (MTV, VH1 etc), including the on network’s Unplugged series, VH1’s Behind the Music and CMT’s Crossroads.
Under the terms of the deal, MTVN and WMG will partner to sell advertising on WMG mobile apps and sites, as well as sign up sponsors for WMG artist tours and live events. MTVN will also provide ad sales services for all WMG labels, including marketing, strategy and planning, pipeline management and reporting, and the management of agency relationships.
Last fall, WMG negotiated a deal with YouTube to regain control over their ad sales on music videos, with the lions share of revenue going to the music company. This is a big win for MTV, but it’s unclear what the rev share is for this partnership. And of course to complicate matters, MTV parent Viacom just has its copyright infringement case against YouTube thrown out.