Having launched in April last year, music video streaming site Vevo is now Australia’s biggest online video streaming network, according to MCM Media, and with a reported 51 million streams on Vevo in March alone, it is now the third most popular video streaming site only to YouTube and Facebook.

Celebrating its one year anniversary, the latest Vevo statistics from April 2012 to March this year reveal the 25 most viewed Australian artists, showing a strong focus on mainstream pop acts in the Top 10.

At number one is previous Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian with 5.7 million views in the past year, followed by a list of Australian ‘talent show’ graduates dominating the Top 10, including Justice Crew, Reece Mastin, Johnny Ruffo, and Jessica Mauboy.

However, the statistics do show Australia’s broader musical taste beyond mainstream performers, with Melbourne indie rock band The Temper Trap sitting at #10 with 598,230 views, followed by singer-songwriter Pete Murray and songstress Kate Miller-Heidke following behind at #11 with 492,758 streams and #12  with 430,754 streams respectively. …with a reported 51 million streams on Vevo in March alone, it is now the third most popular video streaming site only to YouTube
and Facebook.

The bottom half of the top 25 includes a greater variety of music, from electro duo Empire of the Sun scoring 336,005 streams landing them at #16, as well as San Cisco with 277,364 views and Boy & Bear with 242,647 views at #19 and #20 respectively.

There’s even a good mix of older bands with AC/DC sitting at #14 and INXS at #18. However, a huge gap remains between the 5.7 million views of Guy Sebastian compared with AC DC’s 370,000 or so views, despite being one of the biggest rock bands worldwide.

In the top 25 overall streamed artists, international pop and mainstream acts also dominate, with the only Australian act to make the list being Guy Sebastian (at #14), which presumably has to do with his track “Battle Scars” featuring American rapper Lupe Fiasco. Sadly, despite making up a large proportion of Vevo viewers, Australian users are mainly streaming international pop acts.

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The most watched act by Australians on Vevo is UK boy band sensation One Direction, at number one, followed by teen star Justin Bieber, Rihanna, and Taylor Swift. Other acts in the top 25 are Katie Perry, Eminem, and Coldplay.

One of the most surprising facts from the statistics, as The Music Network points out, is that Vevo is now reaching 23% more viewers than “catch up TV” services in Australia, meaning that – according to Nielsen NetRatings – more viewers are turning to the video streaming service than network stations like Channel 7, 10, and SBS’ online services.

Vevo also has 38% of users watching during prime time and 90% of viewers watch the complete advertisements compared to 70% as the average across other video streaming sites, while Aussie users average 15 videos and around 60 minutes viewing on the site per month. Interestingly, the biggest demographic is not a younger audience, but those over 35, who make up 35% of the site’s views…

Interestingly, the biggest demographic is not a younger audience, but those over 35, who make up 35% of the site’s views. These figures could explain the appearance of older bands who make up the Top 25 Most Viewed Australian acts, such as the aforementioned AC/DC (at #14), INXS (at #18), as well as John Farnham at #17 and the New Zealand co-opted Crowded House at #21.

The majority of the site’s users also comes from a significant amount of mobile and tablet users, allowing music videos to be watched beyond desktop screens at home on their mobiles, again an interesting fact considering the dominant 35+ audience.

Vevo launched in April last year as a joint product of Sony, Universal, and MCM Music Entertainment Group. Vice president Nic Jones saying at the time: “We’re not launching an American music site – that wouldn’t work. It’s an Australian site curated specifically for Australia and will reflect the taste of the Australian consumers,” said Jones.

The popularity of international artists over local content however, demonstrates that the “taste” of Australian consumers is internationally focussed.

As recently reported, YouTube’s streaming statistics also show a similar trend of Australians mainly watching videos of international pop acts. YouTube’s most streamed videos from January to November last year showed Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” take out the number one spot, while Guy Sebastian’s “Battle Scars” charted strongly at #6 as the only Australian act to make the top 10 most streamed videos.

Even radio statistics show that sadly Australian artists are not getting enough air time with the Music Network’s Top 100 poll showing that, besides Matt Corby’s “Brother” at #6, Australians are listening mainly to USA and UK pop and mainstream acts.

Top 25 Most Streamed Australian Artists On Vevo

(AUSTRALIAN ONLY DATA April 12 – March 13)
AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS STREAMS
1 Guy Sebastian 5,775,430
2 Justice Crew 3,341,336
3 Reece Mastin 2,590,702
4 Johnny Ruffo 1,106,600
5 Jessica Mauboy 1,068,130
6 Havana Brown 860,570
7 The Janoskians 834,866
8 Keith Urban 807,305
9 Samantha Jade 797,596
10 The Temper Trap 598,230
11 Pete Murray 492,758
12 Kate Miller-Heidke 430,754
13 Ricki-Lee 390,958
14 AC/DC 379,543
15 Stan Walker 341,487
16 Empire Of The Sun 336,005
17 John Farnham 329,404
18 INXS 293,864
19 San Cisco 277,364
20 Boy & Bear 242,637
21 Crowded House 212,015
22 360 209,456
23 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 196,472
24 Silverchair 182,323
25 Spiderbait 170,997

Top 25 Most Streamed Artists On Vevo

(AUSTRALIAN ONLY DATA – April 12 to March 13)
ARTISTS STREAMS
1 One Direction 24,417,895
2 Justin Bieber 16,081,394
3 Rihanna 14,513,266
4 Taylor Swift 13,772,616
5 Katy Perry 10,966,654
6 Nicki Minaj 10,676,420
7 Maroon 5 8,748,795
8 Eminem 8,619,966
9 Chris Brown 8,112,367
10 Carly Rae Jepsen 7,637,141
11 David Guetta 7,387,652
12 P!nk 7,359,476
13 Beyonce 6,350,164
14 Guy Sebastian 5,775,430
15 Pitbull 5,396,276
16 Cher Lloyd 5,011,613
17 will.i.am 4,968,161
18 Little Mix 4,686,394
19 Lil Wayne 4,576,167
20 Usher 4,548,670
21 Calvin Harris 4,526,875
22 Coldplay 4,421,315
23 The Script 4,320,759
24 Ne-Yo 4,299,477
25 Labrinth 4,170,682

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