Taylor Swift’s music videos routinely outperform even the largest network television shows, according to a new study.
With falling numbers for network television, we’re not really that surprised, are we?
Variety reports that Vevo had commissioned Nielsen to do research comparing television ratings with weekly premiere ratings of some of the biggest stars’ music videos. The results showed that there’s really no comparison at all.
For example, when “Bad Blood” was released, it garnered 18 million views in a single week. What TV show do you know of that can beat those numbers? (The answer to that is only NCIS: Los Angeles, as it turns out.)
“We wanted to do an apples to apples comparison,” Vevo VP of research Andrea Zapata said when speaking to Variety, but is this more of an apples to oranges study?
There’s a huge difference between watching television and music videos, after all.
For starters, television is a serialized experience. Most people tend to watch a series from start to finish, beginning with season 1, episode 1 and then proceed in chronological order. (Unless you’re watching American Horror Story or you’re not nearly as OCD as I am.)
Music videos can be watched out of order and at any time. You need no prior viewing experience to watch Swift’s latest song in a visual format. This opens up the viewing experience to many more people.
A five minute video is also a lot easier to take in than a 45 minute episode of a television show, meaning those who have busy schedules or longer attention spans will waste less time checking out “Bad Blood” than The Walking Dead.
Still, there’s something to be said about this study amid dwindling television numbers. Nielsen ratings have been falling across the board, which should not be surprising. Current audiences have found other ways to watch television. With the emergence of streaming services like Netflix and viewers relying heavily on their DVRs to catch all their favorite shows, people are no longer tied to their screens at a certain time each night. Music videos on Vevo or YouTube can be accessed at your convenience and for free, whereas the latest episode of your favorite show may not be available for another 12 hours after its initial airing and it’ll be for a price on a subscription service like Hulu or the network’s personal platform.