Sunday night’s matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets was the most watched Sunday television show since the Super Bowl in February, according to NBC, peaking at 29 million viewers—likely thanks to Taylor Swift and her entourage being in attendance to cheer on rumored boyfriend Travis Kelce.
Taylor Swift and Blake Lively cheer from the stands during an NFL football game between the New York ... [+]
The game—in which the Chiefs had a down-to-the-wire victory over the Jets—averaged about 27 million viewers, NBC said in a release, up from the 24.3 million viewers who tuned in to watch the first game featuring Swift in the stands last week on Fox.
NBC estimates there were about 2 million more female viewers Sunday than in past weeks, with viewership among girls aged 12 to 17 seeing a 53% increase from the average of Sunday Night Football’s first three weeks, viewership among women 18 to 24 up 24% and up 34% among women 35 and older.
Swift—along with stars Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Sabrina Carpenter and Hugh Jackman—was in attendance at the Chiefs game for the second week in a row, fueling rumors that she’s dating Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs’ star tight end.
Sunday’s game produced the largest streaming audience NBC Sports has seen for a regular season NFL game on a Sunday.
8 million. That’s how many times the “Taylor Made for Sunday Night” game promo was viewed, according to NBC.
When Swift attended the Kansas City Chiefs’ game last week, the internet—and NFL—were taken by storm. Swift watched the game from a suite alongside Kelce’s mom, Donna, and was seen passionately cheering on Kelce. After last week’s game, analysts, players and coaches were talking about the rumored romance, with New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick joking that of all of Kelce’s catches in his career, Swift “would be the biggest.” After that game, Swift and Kelce were spotted driving away together in his convertible, though they reportedly left separately this week. The NFL is leaning into the rumored relationship that is bringing in a new demographic of viewers, posting videos on social media of Swift cheering at the game and another video of Swift and Kelce walking together. After Sunday’s game, the NFL changed its bio on social media outlets to “we had the best day with you today,” a reference to a Swift lyric.
After Swift’s appearance at the game last week, sales of Kelce’s jerseys spiked 400%, sports clothing retailer Fanatics told the Associated Press.
Whether Swift will make a third appearance at next week’s Chiefs game, when they face the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota—and, if so, whether her presence will continue to impact ratings so drastically. The game is set for 4:25 p.m. Eastern time on CBS.