NBC is touting record viewership for the Chiefs-Jets game, credited in large part to Taylor Swift's appearance with her rumoured boyfriend, tight end Travis Kelce. The game averaged an eye-popping 27 million viewers, topping all Sunday shows since the Super Bowl.

Swift's appearance, prominently featured during live shots of the game, set off a wave of buzz and pushed peak viewership to 29.4 million across television and streaming platforms. Viewing among women was up over 2 million when compared to other weekend numbers, including a jump of 53% among teen girls, according to Nielsen.

By comparison, the 2022 World Series finale had 12.8 million viewers, and the 2023 NBA Finals clincher averaged 13.1 million, both far behind Sunday's game.

Swift's star power doesn't just end at being an entertainer; she drives NFL merchandise sales and has a large economic clout as well. This summer, Swift became the first female artist to reach 100 million Spotify listeners. Her "Eras Tour" could generate as much as $5 billion in consumer spending, and her upcoming concert film is expected to be a global blockbuster.

Taylor Swift's ability to draw in huge and youthful audiences marked how live sports remain a pull that can span generations. The new media landscape has seen sporting rights become an important currency with which to herd big crowds together. Pay up for broadcasting the matches and take advertising revenues home or vanish from view before competitors and Swift on nights such as Sunday.

It shows where Swift stands among the modern-day giants of entertainment, and she has no equal when it comes to viewer-pulling power.