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Is Taylor Swift a great boon for the NFL? According to the latest TV figures, she is.
The mega pop star was in attendance at Sunday night's game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, cheering on her rumored new boyfriend, Travis Kelce. The defending Super Bowl champions won 23-20 after a crucial fourth-quarter field goal from Harrison Butker and a later botched snap to Zach Wilson.
On Monday, NBC, which aired the game, revealed that it had drawn an average of 27 million viewers – the most for a Sunday game since Super Bowl LVII. In addition, it also drew over two million more female viewers than normal, possibly helped by Swift's presence:
This is NBC's second 27 million-viewer game, after the season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions, which drew just half a million more.
NFL looking to lure in Gen Z's, especially females, with Taylor Swift pitch
For years, the NFL had been perceived as a very masculine league, but Travis Kelce changed that with an innocuous invitation to Taylor Swift. And with that, girls and young women want to watch football, and the league is taking notice.
Ian Trombetta, senior vice president of social and influencer marketing, said that ahead of the Chiefs-Chicago Bears game he and his fellow executives "knew about Kelce's affinity for Taylor... and were watching closely," but they did not know that she would be in attendance until she was seen at the stands.
Swift's presence helped to turn that game into the top ratings-getter in Week 3, with 24.3 million viewers. It was also the No. 1 game among the 12-49 female demographic, per Fox Sports.
Trombetta now wants the NFL to lean into this newfound wave of momentum and court Gen Z's:
"We’ve been really leaning in and reaching out to more casual audiences, or people who are not watching football every single moment or watching every week. We're finding adjacencies in music, gaming, and fashion.
"Gen Z is especially very elusive since they’re using media in ways that are not as traditional and not consuming in traditional broadcast form."
Notably, he has also invited Swift to attend any game she wishes.
