Media Companies Ready To Cash In On Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Love Story: Comcast Up First With Sunday Night Football

Many football fans will root for the Kansas City Chiefs and cheer on Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce this 2023 NFL season.

Apparently, many "Swifties" are tuning into the team's televised games as well.

What Happened: Pop superstar Taylor Swift attended last week’s Chiefs matchup with the Chicago Bears — an event that seemed to confirm rumors of a potential romance with Kelce.

The game was broadcast on Fox, a unit of Fox Corporation FOX and a key NFL media partner. It was the most-watched broadcast of the week on any network.

Swift's appearance may have spiked television viewership figures. Fox reported 24.3 million viewers. The telecast also saw strong female viewership, ranking first among all females, especially in the 12-17, 18-34 and 18-49 categories.

Front Office Sports reported that Kelce jerseys on Fanatics saw a 400% spike in sales and became a top five NFL selling jersey after the Chiefs — Super Bowl LVII champs — defeated the Bears with a score of 41-10.

Kelce caught seven passes for 69 yards and scored a touchdown that had Swift celebrating in Kelce’s suite.

In addition to Swift and Kelce generating strong mentions on social media, with both individuals trending on Google, Kelce saw a significant increase in both Twitter and Instagram followings.

His podcast, which he co-hosts with his brother, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, saw strong interest for the weeks and ranked number one on the Apple AAPL charts for both sports podcasts and NFL podcasts.

Ticket Demand: The Chiefs also sold more tickets in a single day since it started the 2023 season.

StubHub reported a three-time increase in Chiefs ticket searches since Swift’s appearance.
Vivid Seats SEAT reported a 173% increase in traffic for ticket searches for the Chiefs and Jets game. Searches for the Chiefs game against the Vikings (Oct. 8) are also up 121%.
Ticketmaster revealed the cheapest price for the Sunday Night Football game this weekend will be $110. Ticketmaster, a unit of Live Nation Entertainment LYV, is no stranger to strong demand related to Swift, and was subject to legal scrutiny because of it.

Comcast Up Next: Swift/Kelce mania is likely only beginning and the NFL and its media partners, along with the teams the Chiefs are playing, stand to benefit for as long as it goes on.

Swift is reportedly attending the Chiefs away contest against the New York Jets on Sunday, Oct. 1. The match is this week’s Sunday Night Football contest, which will be broadcast on NBC and stream on Peacock, units of Comcast Corporation CMCSA.

Comcast could be one of the biggest winners with them getting first crack at a telecast where Swift is known to attend for several days and also appearing in prime time. Keep in mind that Fox switched from the Chiefs game in some markets to other games due to the game being a blowout.

In a blog post titled “Welcome to New York,” which is also the name of a Swift song, NBC Sports highlighted its coverage of the Chiefs and Jets upcoming game. The preview of the game features multiple song titles, potentially showing NBC is already preparing for Swift mania.

The owner of NBC has also enjoyed strong ratings with its NCAA Football coverage of Notre Dame. A match between Notre Dame and Ohio State, two top ten ranked teams, was the most watched regular season college football game for NBC since 1993. The game was also the most streamed college football game in NBC Sports history.

Comcast has the rights to Sunday Night Football and also had the NFL kickoff game between the Chiefs and Detroit Lions. That game was watched by nearly 27 million viewers, becoming the most-watched show for media since Super Bowl LVII. The NFL game had a viewership of 26.8 million for NBC, Peacock and NFL digital platforms, hitting a peak of over 29 million viewers in the second quarter.

Other Winners: Swift is currently on a break from her record-breaking Eras Tour, with an international portion set to begin in November. A comparison between Swift’s schedule and the Chiefs’ schedule shows that the musician could attend multiple NFL contests this season.

Media companies with broadcast rights will be the big winners along with the ticketing exchanges.

Week 5, Oct 8: Kansas City Chiefs at Minnesota Vikings, television rights CBS, a unit of Paramount Inc PARAPARAA
Week 6, Oct. 12: Denver Broncos at Chiefs, television rights Amazon.com Inc AMZN, Thursday Night Football prime time game
Week 7, Oct. 22: Los Angeles Chargers at Chiefs, television rights CBS
Week 8, Oct. 29: Chiefs at Denver Broncos, television rights CBS
Week 9, Nov. 5: Miami Dolphins at Chiefs, television rights NFL Network, game in Germany and before tour kickoff in South America
Week 10: Chiefs Bye week
Week 11, Nov. 20: Philadelphia Eagles at Chiefs, television rights ESPN, a unit of The Walt Disney Company DIS, Monday Night Football, matchup of Kelce brothers against each other, day after shows in Brazil for Swift
Week 12, Nov. 26: Las Vegas Raiders at Chiefs, television rights CBS, Swift concert date
Week 13, Dec. 3: Chiefs at Green Bay Packers, television rights NBC, Sunday Night Football
Week 14, Dec. 10: Buffalo Bills at Chiefs, television rights CBS
Week 15, Dec. 18: Chiefs at New England Patriots, television rights ESPN, Monday Night Football
Week 16, Dec. 25: Las Vegas Raiders at Chiefs, television rights CBS, Christmas Day game
Week 17, Dec. 31: Cincinnati Bengals at Chiefs, television rights CBS
Week 18, TBD: Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers, television rights to be determined

It’s possible Swift could attend nearly all the remaining 2023 Chiefs games without missing her tour.

If you’re keeping track of the score at home, CBS could be the biggest winner going forward with the rights to seven more Chiefs games. NBC and ESPN rank second with two games each, with all the games being prime time matchups. Amazon and NFL Network each have one game.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

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