With Taylor Swift In The House, NBC’s Chiefs Vs. Jets Nailbiter Draws Increased Female Audience To Become Most-Watched Sunday NFL Game Since Super Bowl LVII
02.10.2023 - 22:25
/ deadline.com
NBC did everything it could to let viewers that Travis Kelce’s new beau Taylor Swift was going to be in Metlife stadium on Sunday and it paid off.
The network averaged 27M viewers for the Kansas City Chiefs nailbiting 23-20 win over the New York Jets – the most for a Sunday game since the Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
The audience peaked with more than 29M viewers in the second quarter.
The numbers are inclusive of data across NBC, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital and NFL Digital platforms. To give some context for a Week 4 game, this was up 22% on last year’s matchup between Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs and Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which averaged 22.2M.
It’s not the highest-rated game of the season, however, thanks to the 27.5M viewers that watched the Super Bowl champions lose to the Detroit Lions on opening night, though season-opening Thursday night games traditionally have had a higher audience than Sunday matchups.
NBC leaned in to the Swift of it all, regularly panning to her in the box alongside the likes of Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. The network made a “Taylor Made for Sunday Night promo” and teased her appearance ahead of the game. It also got the stars of The Voice to do a quick explainer, with Carson Daly saying that NBC Sports asked them to “put tonight’s story in language that the legions of Swifties would understand.”
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Kelce started the game strong, but his team struggled against the Jets comeback, led by embattled QB Zach Wilson, who had a decent game as his team faced some tough refereeing calls toward the end.
Swift’s appearance also saw viewership from girls ages