The swiftiefication of NFL: Global Influencers
The swiftiefication of NFL is the most popular topic online right now. Trends come and go, but the ones that produce the most substantial content will always be people trends.
Taylor Swift becomes part of the NFL, and the whole world will be talking about it. When you’re a global influencer on her level, your work will be watched more closely than that of the President of the United States. However, the coming together of two huge communities, entertainment & sports, wasn’t on this year’s internet people bingo list. It only took one appearance of the artist at the Chiefs game for Taylor’s fanbase to put the puzzle pieces together.
But what exactly is the swiftiefication of NFL
Like a true GenZ, we’ll rely on the facts, explaining as simply as possible why Taylor Swift has turned the American football industry into her own playground.
Online voices say Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are nothing more than PR at its finest. But true fans and incurable romantics stand by their opinion: there`s true love between them.
Whether it`s business or pleasure, the numbers have exploded across the board. This is due to the global influence that Swift supports by her mere presence.
I`ll break it down for you.
Taylor came to NFL games, and this generated for the NFL & media:
- o audiență de 27M de telespectatori atât pentru NFL, cât și pentru NBC & Peacock, față de 3.9M produse de MTV VMA – eveniment din sfera music & entertainment;
- the Chiefs vs New York Jets game ranked as the most-watched Super Bowl Sunday program so far. The female audience was up 35% and the young female audience up 53%;
- NFL Social Media posts increased from 1.2K to 1.5K per week;
- during the broadcast of the match NBC cameramen had 17 close-ups of her;
On the popularity of Travis Kelce, tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs:
- his Instagram page has grown to over 4M followers and his Twitter page to over 1M;
- has become the most popular athlete in the United States as well as the second most searched for on Google;
- is the most requested celebrity in terms of collaborations;
- is the third most searched public figure after Beyoncé (No. 1) and Taylor Swift (No. 2);
- managed to “steal” the expected attention for announcing the halftime show moment for the Super Bowl by Kim Kardashian, which will be performed by Usher this year;
- Travis Kelce brand sports jerseys outsold by 400%;
- the podcast he hosts with his brother, Jason Kelce – center for the Philadelphia Eagles, is now #1 on Spotify & Apple, and YouTube has added +200k new subscribers in just two weeks;
- the episode “Is the NFL overdoing it?” of the two brothers’ podcast has racked up 990k views in just 48 hours.
Global influencers, the ultimate milestone
Put in perspective, a personality like Taylor Swift is hard to classify as a mere influencer. That’s why swiftiefication is the most relevant example of the power of her popularity. A typical influencer has to use persuasion or specific collaborations to convince audiences that a particular product is worthwhile. Taylor just has to wear it even subtly for her followers to buy it until it sells out.
The general media also took advantage of the trend. It has taken up the idea of the swiftiefication of the NFL for its own segments within television and the grids.
Although the sports and entertainment audiences have collided, most of both camps have been extremely welcoming to newcomers. Football fans explained to the artist’s fans what Travis is all about and why he is one of the NFL’s most important athletes, and the swifties introduced fans to the nuances of her albums.
It’s still unclear whether the alleged connection between the two is just evidence of a very good PR person or simply the universe has done its work. What is certain is that men everywhere now have a reason to watch games with their girlfriends or daughters, and swifties fans will get an album worth of Grammys either way.
The swiftiefication of NFL is a win win for everybody.
