DirecTV says it wants Taylor Swift ‘NOW’
December 5, 2016
For anyone who is somehow not tired of Taylor Swift and wants to watch a show just about her, DirecTV has you covered.
“Taylor Swift NOW” will be a “streaming video catalog” exclusively available on the new internet streaming service DirecTV Now that was announced Nov. 28 by DirecTV and AT&T executives.
DirecTV Now launched Nov. 30, but episodes of Swift’s show have not been posted as of press time. There is no published schedule of when the 13-episode series will be posted, but AT&T Executive Brad Bentley assured that it would be within a few weeks, according to a Nov. 28 The Verge article. Currently, a 32-second introduction to the new show titled “Welcome From Taylor” is the only “Taylor Swift NOW” content available on DirecTV Now, which costs $35 per month for the smallest package of 60 channels after a 7-day free trial.
In the introduction, Swift promises viewers will get to see “some old, some new and some never before seen videos” as well as some stories fans have never heard before.
While this new series is an interesting move for Swift and DirecTV, it is not a surprising one.
Swift entered the music scene in 2006 with her eponymous album and popular singles like “Teardrops on my Guitar,” and she has become one of the most recognizable names in the industry. Forbes revealed in a Nov. 30 article that Swift was the highest paid musician—and celebrity—in the world in 2016 at $170 million. The second highest paid musicians were One Direction at $110 million.
She has also had small parts in TV shows like “New Girl” and movies like “The Giver,” received an award for her humanitarian efforts from Michelle Obama, was featured on and usually near the top of more than a few superlative listings, and has dated some of the top names in mainstream media, like Harry Styles and Taylor Lautner.
There are not many worlds left for Swift to conquer, so it only makes sense for her to use this new medium to expand her reach even more. Any artist can create a documentary about themselves, but only Swift could turn that endeavor into something as massive as an entire documentary show series.
“Taylor Swift NOW” is an opportunity for her to become fresh in people’s minds again since she has not put out new music since her fifth album 1989 in 2014. It’s also a way for DirecTV to appeal to millennial Swift fans who have been abandoning cable for streaming lately. The number of millennials ages 18–34 who tune in to a cable service dropped 20 percent between 2011 and 2015, according to a Feb. 18, 2015, TIME article.
Twitter users have been pointing out a mistake AT&T made when it posted a promotion for “Taylor Swift NOW” on YouTube Nov. 28. In the description of the video, AT&T said the show would include “backstage exclusives and new music.” The description has since been changed to remove the part about new music.
This new platform would be the perfect place for Swift to make a splash with her new inevitable album, which she has yet to confirm is in the works. Because the show will be full of new content, why wouldn’t a new album be part of that?