The most recent Seton Hall Sports Poll was featured by media across the country and the world for its findings on the Super Bowl, the impact of Taylor Swift on viewership, the impact of big game advertising and more.
The poll’s findings were featured by National Public Radio (NPR) member stations and their websites all throughout the country, and on BBC, AOL, ESPN, The Athletic, Yahoo, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports (2 separate stories published in the US, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand and more), PR NEWS, Forbes, Business Insider, Business Insider India, The Sports Business Journal, the UK’s Daily Mail, the Palm Beach Post, NJ ROI and more. On Twitter, the Poll’s findings were featured by Darren Rovell (1.9M followers), Mike FreemanNFL (USA Today), Observatoire du Sport Business, Boston Radio Watch and more.
The NPR story, “The Swift-Kelce romance sounds like a movie. But the NFL swears it wasn’t scripted,” appeared in more than 135 member stations across the country and noted:
A Seton Hall Sports Poll released Wednesday found that 72% of Americans plan to tune into the Super Bowl, up from 66% last year.
When asked if they thought Swift had anything to do with that decision, or that of anyone in their household, 21% of respondents said yes. That number was almost twice as high for 18-to-34 year-olds.
“From a marketing perspective, the NFL and its advertisers couldn’t do any better,” marketing Professor Daniel Ladik, chief methodologist for the poll, said in a statement. “The viewership for this game is on a seemingly inexorable march toward more viewers, and this year Taylor Swift may be playing the role of drum major — at least for 18-34 year olds, a market that almost everyone covets.”
The article in Forbes, “Super Bowl (Taylor’s Version) Can Expect A Boost In Viewership, Poll Suggests,” recounts that
Continuing a trend of increased viewership for the NFL, a recent poll by Seton Hall shows that Taylor Swift could help juice the numbers further for Super Bowl LVIII.
Swift, who just won her record-breaking fourth Grammy Album of the Year award, has been a significant part of a growing interest in the NFL since she began dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Now that effect will be on full display when the Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers square off this Sunday in the Super Bowl (airs on CBS).
The poll of 1,523 shows that overall, Swift’s presence at the Super Bowl is influencing 21% to watch the game, with a staggering 41% in the critical 18-34 age demo being influenced by her attendance.
The poll shows that while the repeat of the Chiefs and Niners just four years ago, CBS and the NFL could be on the verge of a record-setting viewership figure. Seton Hall’s poll shows nearly three-quarters of Americans (72%) plan to watch the game, commercials, and halftime entertainment. That’s up six points from last year’s Super Bowl (68%) when 115.1 million watched Kansas City vs. Philadelphia on FOX and other platforms carrying the game.
Nielsen numbers for the game verified the poll’s findings on expected viewership, with Super Bowl 58 registering as the most-watched television program in U.S. history.
In “How Taylor Swift and Lionel Messi have impacted American sports with their massive star power,” the Athletic story combined Sports Poll results and an interview with Stillman Marketing Professor Daniel Ladik to talk about the similarities –and differences – between Taylor Swift, Lionel Messi, the NFL and Major League Soccer in the U.S.
Yet, the Messi and Swift effects, as they pertain to MLS and the NFL, are not the same.
“There is one huge fundamental difference between the two,” said Daniel Ladik, the chief methodologist for the aforementioned Seton Hall poll. Ladik is an associate professor and chair of the marketing department at the university. He is also a soccer aficionado.
“MLS would be absolutely nothing in part of the global sports narrative without Messi,” Ladik said. “The NFL would still be colossal without Taylor Swift. She just found a way to kick it into another gear.”
Messi changed the trajectory of MLS last year, Ladik said. Referencing Apple’s $2.5 billion, 10-year deal with the league, he added, “It didn’t seem like those subscription numbers were going all that well. Then Messi joining (the league) and that unbelievable run they had in the Cup, that changed the entire narrative of soccer in the United States, and beyond the United States. Everything about that conversation is about one of the world’s most recognizable people at the top of their game, who is actually on the field.”
Seton Hall Sports Poll findings with charted breakdowns plus questions, “Number of Americans Planning to Watch Super Bowl Up – Taylor Swift Effect?”
Featured Media Includes
NPR , “The Swift-Kelce romance sounds like a movie. But the NFL swears it wasn’t scripted”
Forbes, “Super Bowl (Taylor’s Version) Can Expect A Boost In Viewership, Poll Suggests”
BBC, “Super Bowl 58: Taylor Swift cheers on Kansas City Chiefs as they beat San Francisco 49ers
AOL, “Super Bowl 2024: Taylor Swift celebrates boyfriend Travis Kelce’s NFL win”
The Athletic, “How Taylor Swift and Lionel Messi have impacted American sports with their massive star power”
PR NEWS, “PR Roundup: McDonald’s Too Expensive, New AI Guidelines, and the Best Super Bowl Activation We’ve Seen Yet”
Yahoo (Singapore) Super Bowl 2024: Taylor Swift celebrates boyfriend Travis Kelce’s NFL win
Yahoo Sports (Canada, also appeared in Australia, New Zealand and more) “Super Bowl 2024: Taylor Swift celebrates boyfriend Travis Kelce’s NFL win”
Yahoo Sports “Super Bowl-Taylor Swift conspiracy theorists are right – more people will watch Sunday’s game”
Business Insider, “The Super Bowl menu has changed. Here’s what people are buying and how much they’re spending”
Business Insider India, “Taylor Swift’s 53 seconds of airtime during the Super Bowl was worth about $12.4 million”
The Sports Business Journal, “Daily Digit”
Daily Mail, “‘Super Sick Monday’ looms! As Taylor Swift is tipped to bring record ratings to Super Bowl 2024 – more than 16 MILLION Americans are expected to call out sick”
Palm Beach Post “Super Bowl-Taylor Swift conspiracy theorists are right – more people will watch Sunday’s game”
NJ-ROI. “Seton Hall Sports Poll: Super Bowl betting, those clever ads … and, of course, Taylor”