Taylor Swift effect draws record 58 million female viewership at Super Bowl 58: Report

The Taylor Swift effect is real and Super Bowl 58 is the beneficiary. The NFL has seen a surge in interest from fans of the popular singer ever since her relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was revealed. She was there for the Super Bowl as well to see the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas.

Knowing that she will be present certainly seems to have attrracted a lot of fans who might not have otherwise being watching Super Bowl 58. As per Sports Media Watch, the total for this year's viewing figures were 122.5 million. This marks an increase from last year when 115.1 million tuned in.

As per the report, the biggest jump was in female and young viewership. Among the ages 18-24, women's viewership inreased 24 percent to 3.18 million and men increased 20 percent to 4.61 million. Women aged 12-17 jumped 11 percent to 2.85 million.

But women's viewership was not limited to just youngsters. After the three categories above that denote the highest percentage increase, women aged 55 and above folllowed with a 9 percent increase. Women from the ages 18 to 54 had an average 8 percent increase, with consistent rise across every age group and outpacing men.

Notably, female viewership across the board increased from 53.78 million to 58.18 million. That marks 47.5 percent of the total viewership being women, which as per New York Post, is the highest of all time. In absolute terms, the total increase of 7.4 million was divided into a 3 million jump for males and 4.4 million for females.

Taylor Swift's effect goes far beyond just Super Bowl 58 for the NFL

The rise in interest from young fans is undoubtedly a boon to the NFL. For years the league has been concerned with how it is perceived, with concussions and issues pertaining to cultural sensitivity often alienating the younger generation. With changing perceptions, football has feared losing viewership to sports like soccer and basketball.

But Taylor Swift has focused attention on the league and by getting to know Travis Kelce and others, they have started taking interest in football. Fans often say that no player in bigger than the team, and no team is bigger than the game. But that might, literally, not apply in this case.

The NFL has 34.8 million followers on X, formerly Twitter. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has 95.2 million followers on her own. She is a phenomenon unlike anything seen before in the league.