Vevo music video views up 33% in 2013 as mobile and tablet use surges

Views of music videos on the online service Vevo increased by a third in 2013, driven largely by a big jump in use of the company’s mobile, tablet and Internet-connected TV apps.

Users watched 55 billion music videos worldwide on Vevo last year, up 33% from 2012, the New York company said Wednesday in a new report on its viewership.

A fast-growing portion of those views came from applications for smartphones and tablets, as well as devices that let people stream Web video onto their TV sets, including Roku, Apple TV and Samsung Smart TVs.

Global views through such apps surged to 17 billion last year, up 176% from 2012.

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In the last year, Vevo has put out several apps for people to use on their living room TVs rather than the small mobile and tablet screens. It released programs for Apple TV, Samsung Smart TVs and Google’s Chromecast last year.

“Lifetime app downloads increased 66% in 2013, helping drive Vevo’s growth away from the desktop,” the company said.

Last year was a big one for music videos, as artists including Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams used the medium to greatly increase their profiles -- often doing so with controversy.

Cyrus’ provacative “Wrecking Ball” scored 19.3 million views in a single day and reached 100 million views in six days. The video has amassed nearly 560 million viewers so far.

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