The Taylor Swift Effect on NFL Ratings and the Female Demographic is No Joke

The numbers rolled in from Taylor Swift’s appearance at last Sunday’s Chiefs/Bears game, and the NFL has to love what it sees.

Per David Rumsey at Front Office Sports, Roku TV data revealed that Chiefs/Bears saw a 63% increase in female viewers ages 18-49 (Swift’s main fan demographic) from the Chiefs’ week prior game against Jacksonville. SIXTY THREE PERCENT. The game reached 10.2 million adults, which was a 61% increase overall, and household reach grew from 2.8 million to 4.4 million.

The Taylor Swift effect didn’t just bump up ratings. Everything to do with Travis Kelce received a boost. The New Heights podcast, hosted by Travis and Jason, ranks #1 overall on Apple. Travis gained 383,000 new Instagram followers since Sunday. Travis Kelce jersey sales have seen a 400% spike. The Chiefs as an organization are also benefiting from the added publicity, with the tripling of ‘Chiefs’ web searches and Chiefs sales on Stubhub.

The woman is an economy unto herself.

You might be sick of the Swift/Kelce social media posts, but Swifties are eating them up. On Sunday, The NFL’s official Twitter account had nine posts featuring either Kelce or Swift and averaged 4.7 million views per tweet. Sunday Night Football’s official promotion video for this week’s Chiefs/Jets game features Swift’s “Welcome To New York.” In less than 12 hours, the tweet had 2.6 million views.

Speaking of the game itself, Swift has already been confirmed to make an appearance. After that announcement, the get-in ticket price rose 43% and the average list price is up 28%, also according to Front Office Sports. That’s the most expensive remaining home Jets ticket, and it’s only Week 4, with Aaron Rodgers on the shelf and Zach Wilson under center.

I know we will never be able to measure it, but what’s the O/U on Taylor Swift impact to this Sunday Night Football game’s ratings? Double? More? Even if Rodgers were playing and the Jets were awesome, I bet the ratings wouldn’t be as high

— Jason Robins (@JasonDRobins) September 30, 2023

Clearly, the Swiftie impact cannot be understated. The NFL has figured that out, and is most likely gonna do everything they can to capitalize on it. So if you’re waiting for this whole Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce thing to die down or blow over… you’re gonna be waiting a long time.

Kinkead: I would add that the NFL is already an unstoppable ratings and engagement behemoth. Think of the starting point when considering what Swift is adding here. It really is incredible. 

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