Taylor Swift's Videos Have More Viewers Than Most Network TV Shows

As if the world needed more proof that Taylor Swift is one of the biggest pop culture icons of the modern era. Partnering with Nielsen, Vevo researched the data concerning the reach of a major video from a high-profile artist during its debut week. Comparing the viewership of those visuals and periods to big-budget network TV programs such as Big Brother and NCIS: Los Angeles, Nielsen and Vevo’s new research leads them to one conclusion: videos from artists on the scale of Taylor Swift, Drake and Rihanna might have more pull and generate a larger audience than the majority of network TV shows. 18 million American viewers alone ran through Taylor Swift’s itinerary of music videos during the week that her “Bad Blood” clip premiered. In contrast, NCIS: Los Angeles was the only television program that seemed to garner more viewers. Drake’s videos were viewed by nearly six million people in the week following “Hotline Bling,” with Rihanna earning a very similar number of viewers “BBHMM” dropped last summer. Speaking to Variety, Vevo vice president of research Andrea Zapata concludes, “The audiences are shifting. We are in a shifting landscape.”