Much of the conversation around Super Bowl LVIII was around how much the CBS broadcast would show pop icon Taylor Swift throughout the game. Well, it turns out that yet again, this was largely an overblown story when it comes to how much of the broadcast she actually took up.
Those who have pushed back on the Swift-Kelce storyline throughout the NFL season have made it a point to voice their displeasure with her in-game camera time.
In the AFC Championship game, Swift was shown in seven different camera shots for just 44 seconds throughout the broadcast. This was just barely more than crab cakes were shown on-camera, which took up 27 seconds of camera time. When it comes to the actual percentage of the broadcast for Swift, it resulted in just 0.39 percent of the just over three-hour game.
The Super Bowl was significantly longer than the AFC Championship game, lasting four hours and nine minutes. Of this game time, Swift was shown on camera for just 54 seconds, accounting for 0.36 percent of the game, according to Reddit user JPAnalyst.
For all the criticism that Swift has received for her presence at Chiefs games this year, she was shown on the grandest stage the sport has to offer just above B-roll of Caesar’s Palace (27 seconds), footage of The Sphere (23 seconds) and Post Malone drinking beer in the stands (22 seconds).
Even for the biggest Swift critics, it’s hard to argue that 54 seconds is essentially no time at all for Swift to be on camera. And considering that she has reportedly generated $331.5 million this season for the NFL in TV, print, and radio this season, it is overwhelmingly obvious that Swift’s impact has been a positive one for the league that real football fans should be a fan of.
[Reddit]
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.