There’s always a healthy crop of underdog services online – be it for social media, shopping or video streaming. In those first two categories Facebook and Amazon reign supreme, whilst in the video sector dozens of sites compete with YouTube for recognition.
One such underdog streaming site is Dailymotion, a French video streaming website that’s owned by Orange. The site offers many features that either parallel or compete with YouTube, and more than once the two sites have clashed in terms of adopting new ideas and tools.
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We’ve now heard that Dailymotion is once again potentially on sale. In 2013 there were rumors of a Yahoo takeover, but this time around Vivendi has reportedly stepped in with a $272 million offer for the site. Reports of the offer were circulating on several news outlets online early this week.
Vivendi are one of the largest media entities in the EU – believe it or not the mass media organisation started out in France as a water company, splitting into two divisions in 1976, one of which moved into television in the early 1980s. The company is now best known for owning the Universal Music Group, a music producer with ties to 30% of the global music market.
A deal with Vivendi would be a strictly French affair – The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the government there, usually anxious to keep French companies French-owned, had recently opposed but not outright blocked a deal with Hong Kong firm PCCW for that very reason. A deal with Vivendi would be far more likely to go ahead if it is indeed genuine.
As for Dailymotion, one might expect a big partnership with a company with such a grand share in the music industry to yield a wider range of unrestricted access to music videos and concert footage – artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj are all produced by Vivendi’s UMG – as well as Justin Bieber and Maroon 5.
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Of course, Vivendi are also tied to the Canal+ Group – a major TV network in France and a well known name in cinema as well – it may be that the site might find itself including some new content for European audiences as well as music.
No doubt more info will arrive on the takeover – as well as a large announcement if and when the site is potentially rebranded or relaunched – it’s not exactly the biggest name in video streaming there is, but Dailymotion has had a long standing presence online for years. Check back with us for any further announcements.
Via: Techspot