All eyes were on Taylor Swift as she attended the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday Night Football road game against the New York Jets.
For the most part, attention turned to the suite where Swift was joined by Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce’s mom, Donna, as well as other celebrities to watch her new beau play for the defending champions. Even those broadcasting the game on NBC, including Cris Collinsworth and Mike Tirico, couldn’t help but mention the music sensation multiple times.
In the end, Kansas City’s narrow win over New York in Jersey was a ratings bonanza for NBC. The network announced on Monday that this game averaged 27 million viewers across all platforms, making it the most-watched Sunday night television show since Super Bowl LVII between these very same Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles on February 12. That game drew an average of 113 million viewers.
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Taylor Swift leads to major gains for NFL among girls, women
It was just last week that Fox recorded an average of 24.3 million viewers for the Chiefs’ lopsided win over the Chicago Bears. Swift made her first presence at an NFL game in that one as Kelce’s new flame. Considering this was a regional broadcast, those numbers are absolutely insane.
But it’s all about the increase in certain demographics that tell the story here.
- Viewership among girls 12-17 grew by 53% over the first three weeks of Sunday Night Football.
- NBC saw an uptick in viewership of 24% in women age 18-24.
- Women age 35 or more viewed in at a 34% higher clip than the first three weeks.
- The NBC telecast drew an average of 25.15 million viewers, up 21% from the same week last year.
- Of the 487,000 watching Nielsen-measured TV Sunday night in Kansas City, 87% were tuned into the Chiefs-Jets broadcast on NBC.
“The game drew added national attention due to the attendance of pop star Taylor Swift,” NBC said in a statement.
Regardless of how longtime NFL fans feel about Swift and her impact on the brand, it’s rather obvious that we’re seeing it first-hand right now.
The multi-time Grammy Award winner was the subject of Sunday night’s broadcast at a near never-ending clip as she took the game in with actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, among others.
Swift was also seen embracing the great Donna Kelce during the game in a sweet moment.
The NFL’s popularity is second to none among sports entities. Consider this. Eight of the top-10 most-watched TV programs in history according to Nielsen ratings are Super Bowls. The only two exceptions were the Apollo 11 Moon Landing (1969) and former President Richard Nixon’s resignation speech (1974).
Even then, the powers that be within the league know just how much of an impact Swift has made on its brand.
“It is hard to move that needle dramatically on a great feeling a great attraction in the NFL. We get a lot of eye balls. She blew it off the charts,” Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said of Taylor Swift ahead of Week 4. “It is amazing. It makes you smile. But it just shows the depth of her following, especially with her core constituency.”
Indeed.