• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, August 1, 2012

Big as it is, YouTube isn’t the only way to reach video lovers.

Proving that point, top YouTube partner Vevo just entered into a content distribution deal with Android-based gaming console Ouya.
 
Backed by Kickstarter capital -- $6 million so far -- Ouya is planning to hit the market next March, and cost $99 per unit.
 
“For Ouya, this means entertainment beyond gaming,” Julie Uhrman, Ouya’s founder, said Wednesday.
 
Michael Cerda, SVP of product and technology at Vevo, calls Ouya “one of the most exciting new entertainment platforms we’ve seen.”
 
Bigger picture: the Ouya deal is part of Vevo’s ambitious plans to infiltrate every living room in the world -- if need be, with the help of YouTube.
 
Indeed, the deal follows threats by Vevo -- the popular online music video company owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Abu Dhabi Media -- to distance itself from YouTube.

Last month, Vevo founder Doug Morris, the CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, warned YouTube parent Google to sweeten the deal between the two companies, or risk losing Vevo’s content.
 
YouTube is “just extracting too much money for the enterprise to work properly,” Morris told the Los Angeles Times in July. “The videos are expensive to produce. And there are many mouths to feed on our end. You have to pay the artist, the record companies, the publishers.”
 
YouTube would likely survive without Vevo, as it remains the most-watched channel on the video platform. However, Vevo attracted 45 million viewers -- who together streamed 567 million videos -- in June, according to comScore. (By contrast, YouTube’s second-most-popular video partner, Warner Music, drew 26 million viewers in June.)
 
Vevo is reportedly on pace to generate $280 million in revenue in 2012 -- up from $150 million last year. The company, however, has yet to confirm these numbers.