newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Walking Dead’ dominates among young viewers

NEW YORK

“The Walking Dead” rules as television’s most-popular drama, but the Nielsen company’s viewership totals give only a hint at the extent to which zombies rule.

Nielsen said that the AMC show had 13.5 million viewers Sunday, beating CBS’ “Madam Secretary” by one million as the most-watched drama. Yet 8.8 million of those viewers were between 18 and 49 years old, the demographic upon which most television advertising sales are based on.

In that demo, “The Walking Dead” towers over its competition. No other drama had half as many young viewers last week.

Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Nov. 3-9. Listings include the week’s ranking and viewership:

1. NFL Football: Chicago at Green Bay, NBC, 18.13 million.

2. “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick,” NBC, 16.58 million.

3. “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 16.56 million.

4. “CMA Awards,” ABC, 16.25 million.

5. “The Walking Dead,” AMC, 13.53 million.

6. “Dancing With the Stars,” ABC, 13.09 million.

7. “Madam Secretary, CBS, 12.54 million.

8. NFL Football: Indianapolis at N.Y. Giants, ESPN, 12.36 million.

9. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 12.16 million.

10. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 12.06 million.

Spotify CEO bemoans Swift pulling songs from streaming service

HELSINKI

Spotify’s Swedish CEO voiced disappointment Tuesday that Taylor Swift pulled her music off the popular music streaming service, denying claims it’s making money “on the backs of artists.”

Daniel Ek defended the service in a blog post, saying he had co-founded the platform to protect artists from piracy and had paid more than $2 billion to music labels and publishers since 2008.

In the blog titled “$2 Billion and Counting,” Ek said that piracy doesn’t pay artists a penny, “nothing, zilch, zero,” while Spotify’s payouts for a top artist like Swift were on track “to exceed $6 million a year.”

Artists complain that music streaming services and file sharing have sharply cut into album sales and that the fees Spotify pays to record labels and music publishers, with a portion eventually funneled to musicians, is too small.

Swift pulled her music from Spotify last week, meaning her songs, which were among the most streamed on the service, are no longer available to its 50 million users.

Associated Press