Despite being a star in the NFL, Travis Kelce has never been as popular as he is now, after he and Taylor Swift publicly announced their relationship, as research reveals a 37 percent spike in female NFL viewers thanks to America’s favorite power couple’s romance.

Kelce, the 34-year-old tight-end for the Kansas City Chiefs, is considered one of the best of all time in his position. But, even he is not immune to the Swift Effect, with a huge jump in Google searches, social media follows and even jerseys sales evidence of the enormous impact interacting with the globally recognizable popstar can have.

Interested in how their relationship has already made an impact on fans and people who wouldn’t normally tune into an NFL game if it weren’t for Swift’s presence at pro-football stadiums this season, Action Network kept a close eye on viewing figures since Kelce first courted Swift in September.

 
According to preliminary Nielsen data, compared to an average of the first three weeks of ‘Sunday Night Football,’ the largest demographic gain were among girls aged 12 to 17 (53 percent), women aged 18 to 24 (24 percent) and women aged 35 and over (34 percent).

What’s more is, the Chiefs game versus the Chicago Bears on Sunday, September 24, saw the highest viewing figures of the week for any T.V. network, 24.3million.

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Viewership for NFL games started to increase when Swift saw the Chiefs play against the Bears

Kelce’s social media accounts have also felt the impact of the player’s romantic ties to Swift, as his Instagram followers count increased by over 1.5M in the weeks after the Bears-Chiefs game.

According to Socialblade metrics, Kelce’s only two comparable periods of leap in popularity on Instagram were in February of 2020 and 2023, both directly after the Chiefs won the Superbowl.

In the week before lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy for the first time in his career in 2020, Kelce had gained 17,818 followers, compared to 201,130, afterwards – a 183,213 difference.

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Kelce’s followers count on Instagram has increased by 1.5million after going public with Swift

This year, in the week leading to the Super Bowl win against his older brother, Jason, and the Philadelphia Eagles in Arizona, the tight-end clinched 34,103 followers on Instagram, compared to 332,163 afterwards – a 289,060 difference.

In the week prior to and after publicly announcing his relationship with Swift, Kelce obtained 133,638 new followers, compared to 850,770 after his relationship status changed – a 717,132 difference.

The Chiefs are set to host the Eagles for a rematch of this year’s Super Bowl game as part of Monday Night Football coverage, on November 20, and with Swift potentially attending, Kelce’s followers count on Instagram might see another sharp rise during and after the game.

Much to the delight of fans, the Kelce brothers have also released a Christmas song this week.