Photo Credit: NBC / Sunday Night Football
Raking in additional viewership with the presence of celebrity spectators — namely Taylor Swift — NBC’s Sunday Night Football game featuring the Kansas City Chiefs against the New York Jets became the most-watched Sunday show since the Super Bowl.
Making her second appearance at a Kansas City Chiefs game to cheer on player Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift may have angered some of the die-hard fans watching from home — but she’s proving to be great for the NFL’s viewership ratings.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football game featuring the Chiefs against the New York Jets average 27 million viewers, making it the most-watched Sunday game since Fox’s airing of the Super Bowl in February. Preliminary data across NBC, NBC Sports Digital, Peacock, and NFL Digital platforms reveal a 22% increase from last year, when 22.2 million fans tuned in to watch the Chiefs go up against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers.
Swifties flocking to catch her appearance in the crowd undeniably affected ratings, with viewership among girls aged 12-17 rocketing 53% from the season-to-date average of the first three weeks of Sunday Night Football. Women aged 18-24 increased in the audience by 24%, with women 35 and older increasing by 34%.
Viewership for the night peaked at around 29.4 million viewers from 9:30 to 9:45 PM ET as the Jets gained traction within eight points of the Chiefs in the game’s second quarter. But Kansas City took home the win with a final score of 23-20.
Swift attended her second game to cheer on Travis Kelce, amid romance rumors surrounding the two. Joining the pop superstar in the crowd was friend and actor Blake Lively, as well as Kelce’s mother, and a veritable who’s who in the same luxury suite, including actors Sophie Turner, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman.
Her appearance at last week’s Chiefs game against the Chicago Bears aired on Fox, featured as “America’s Game of the Week,” with 24.32 million viewers tuning in. That game scored the highest among female demographics in the 12-17 and 18-49 age groups.