Online video has remained an attraction point for tech and marketing industries, generating billions of dollars from online advertising. Such a rich well of revenues has gained the interest of online video content providers that see more money coming from foreign markets, and plans for expansion are but one step away. In the second half of this year, the American music video content provider Vevo will reach the Australian shores, prior to reaching other destinations pinpointed on the map:

‘We’re planning to launch in UK imminently, even in the next one to two months, and shortly thereafter to bring Vevo to the Middle East, North Africa region, in partnership with Abu Dhabi Media [one of its investors]. And then to bring to it other countries in Europe, Brazil, Australia in the second half of this year and beyond,’ said Vevo’s president and CEO Rio Caraeff during the Abu Dhabi Media Summit last week.

Vevo entered the US and Canadian market 2 years ago, in 2009, by courtesy of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and the Abu Dhabi Media Company, in partnership with YouTube, currently offering over 30,000 videos and gathering 60 million viewers in North America.

Online video is so appealing that it has convinced newcomers to get on the boat as well. Tencent, the most powerful instant messaging provider in China, will launch a video website next month, hoping to replicate Baidu’s success with online video services.

Everyone wants a slice of the pie and competition is increasing more than ever. According to Comscore’s measurements, Microsoft’s Bing has leaped from the seventh to the second rank in one month’s time, with 48.8 million views, overcoming Yahoo with 46.7 million views, Vevo with 45.9 million and Facebook with 46.7 million views. Facebook is still ahead of the game with online photos, but has a lot of catching up to do in order to compete with aforementioned players.

Google, the occupant of the top position in online video content, has not made any significant increase in the number of views, quietly managing to maintain its top position with a small 2% drop from about 144 million the prior month. Next of kin, Hulu, sets an increase of 12% in views, from 127 million to 143.5 million and maintained its second-place standing in terms of average minutes per user.