NFL pushed networks to air Taylor Swift concert film promos — for free
In the NFL’s undying quest for Taylor Swift’s heart, it asked its networks — NBC, ESPN, Fox and CBS — to show promos for her upcoming movie for free, The Post has learned.
ESPN and NBC acquiesced to the request and showed promos for Swift’s movie during the content portion of their pregame shows this past Sunday and Monday.
ESPN played the Swift movie promos for her concert during “Sunday NFL Countdown” and “Monday NFL Countdown.”
NBC’s free promo was on its pregame show, “Football Night in America,” prior to Chiefs-Jets, which Swift attended.
There was also a Swift commercial during NBC’s game.
The ad time was paid for, according to sources. These 30-second spots are generally approaching the million-dollar neighborhood for a “Sunday Night Football” game.
Swift attended the game Sunday at MetLife Stadium, which featured Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, whom Swift has been rumored to be dating. NBC’s coverage of the game featured a lot of Swift shots and talk.
Fox nor CBS used the promo last week. Unlike NBC, neither had the Chiefs on its air. CBS has Chiefs-Vikings at 4:25 p.m. this Sunday.
The NFL and the networks declined comment. Swift could not be reached. The requests were made on Friday of last week, which is why Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” was likely left out.
Next Thursday, Amazon – which has a relationship with Swift through Amazon Music – will have the Chiefs and Broncos on Oct. 12.
On Friday, Oct. 13, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” concert film will be released in theaters.
The question that TV executives were left wondering is: What is the end game for the NFL with Swift?
She is the biggest pop star in the world, but it is a misnomer that she is greatly impacting the TV ratings.
On Sunday, as the Sports Business Journal pointed out, there were 27 million viewers for Chiefs-Jets, but it had more to do with the defending champs in a one-score game against a team from the biggest media market than Swift watching.
The female teen demo was only up 40,000 from the previous week’s Steelers-Raiders game on Sunday night.
TV executives speculated that the NFL’s goal with Swift is the Super Bowl halftime show, which she has never done.
The halftime show had been sponsored by Pepsi, which may have precluded her from doing it in the past as she endorses Diet Coke. The Super Bowl halftime show is now presented by Apple Music, whom Swift has done ads for recently.
The NFL has played up Swift’s interest in attending games. It featured her on its social handles, even noting in its bios the Chiefs are “2-0 as swifties” and writing, “NFL (Taylor Version.)”
The NFL is always looking for ways to leverage its billion-dollar business, making demands of its network partners, but sources described this as more of an ask than an order.
The networks did not have to give Swift free commercial time, but ESPN and NBC did do the NFL the favor of promoting Swift’s movie in which it has no known business relationship.
The NFL (Taylor’s version) is exactly right as the big, bad billion-dollar league seemingly will do almost anything to stay on Swift’s good side.
