‘Sunday Night Football’ viewership spikes thanks to Taylor Swift

It’s a new soundtrack (for the NFL). Ahead of last Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, NBC released a Sunday Night Football promo featuring Taylor Swift’s “Welcome to New York,” a nod to the singer’s rumored relationship with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce that’s taken the world (and brands) by storm.

If viewership stats are any indication, it seems the league is welcoming some new fans into the fold, at least for now, thanks to those tuning in because of Swift.

End Numbers game: NBC said the game saw an average of about 27 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, according to Nielsen ratings, making it the most-watched Sunday game since this year’s Super Bowl.

• That’s up 22% from last year’s Week 4 game, which drew just over 22 million viewers, according to NBC.
• The game reached more than 19 million households, according to Roku TV viewership data measuring cable and satellite viewing, including about 20 million adult women. Both total viewers and women viewers were up 17% from the previous SNF game on traditional TV, Roku found.
• The Chiefs’ Week 3 game against the Chicago Bears—which Swift attended alongside Kelce’s mom—was the most-watched telecast of the week across networks, according to Fox Sports. It also ranked first among women across age demos.

Ready for it: The NFL seemed prepared for the influx of fans, at least after Swift first made her appearance in the Kelce suite at Arrowhead Stadium during Week 3. Ian Trombetta, the league’s senior VP of social, influencer and content marketing, told Ad Age the league “wanted to capture the moment” before the night hype train left the station.

Not long after Swift was first spotted on the broadcast of the game on Sept. 24, the NFL posted the clip to its TikTok and changed its bio to “9/24/23. Taylor was here.” In the days since, Swift has become a mainstay on the NFL’s socials, with the league changing its bios on Instagram and X several times to Swift references like “chiefs are 2-0 as swifties” and “NFL (Taylor’s Version).”

After Swift turned up at MetLife Stadium this past Sunday, the league briefly changed its X header to photos of her and its bio to “we had the best day with you,” a reference to “The Best Day” from her 2008 album Fearless. The broadcast of that game cut to Swift 17 times, per The Athletic.

Afterglow: The NFL isn’t the only brand capitalizing on the Swift-Kelce mania. During Sunday’s game, Marketing Brew spotted ads for companies including State Farm, Experian, and Pfizer featuring Kelce. Before the broadcast, NBC ran an ad for Swift’s upcoming concert film, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.

Brands that have been able to land a Kelce endorsement recently seem to be reaping the rewards. Pfizer’s Kelce ad, for instance, was 27% more effective at driving engagement than its ads without him, according to data from TV measurement company EDO.