At one point Wednesday night, about 1.3 million people were watching the livestream of Taylor Swift’s appearance on the “New Heights” podcast hosted by her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce, and his brother (and former NFL star) Jason Kelce.
By Thursday afternoon, about 17 hours after the episode went live, it had more than 10 million views. That number shattered the “New Heights” record of 8.6 million. Interestingly, that record was set when Jason’s wife Kylie appeared on the show.
On her own podcast, Kylie weighed in, saying, “Officially no longer the record holder for the most watched episode of the other podcast. There's no way it's even close, and I love that for me.” She added, “It is very entertaining to watch the Internet break. It's just crumbling apart, and I love it. I love it.”
More impressively, the numbers posted due to Swift’s appearance are in line with Donald Trump’s 2024 pre-election appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Rogan garnered about 11 million views in the first 12 hours.
Swift’s appearance, and her album announcement, had Swifties and casual fans alike burning up their devices to watch. That’s because seeing Swift in such an environment was so unusual.
The New York Times’ Jessica Testa wrote, “Rarely does Ms. Swift sit for an interview. (Exceptions include in-depth conversations about songwriting for Apple in 2020, and about directing for Variety in 2022.) That her first proper podcast interview was conducted beside her romantic partner speaks to both her personal reluctance to engage with mainstream media and a larger truth about podcasting: For prominent figures, it has become a friendly space, where unchecked conversation can flow freely.”
A PR executive told CNN’s Brian Stelter, “Why would Taylor EVER do a mainstream media interview ever again?”
Swift’s stardom surpasses any need to appear on Jimmy Fallon or Jimmy Kimmel’s show to help sell an album. She doesn’t even have to do a podcast. She can just use her own social media.
But if someone such as Swift, or even those not as nearly famous, is interested in sitting down for an interview, there are plenty of friendly podcasts to choose from. Plus, podcast interviews offer a level of flexibility that makes them enticing to celebrities and newsmakers. The conversations can be long and free-flowing without tight time constraints. That allows for nuance and context. Plus, podcasts can be edited — or not edited — so what an interview subject wants to say is what the audience actually ends up hearing.
Testa wrote, “While these interviews may seem journalistic in nature, most stars of new media do not consider themselves journalists. In their celebrity interviews, they reject the blunt questions of 1990s network broadcasters and the literary sensibility of 1970s magazine scribes. They foster a sense of safety. Their goal is intimacy, not necessarily accountability.”
Podcasts such as Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” and Sean Evans’ “Hot Ones,” where celebrities eat spicy chicken wings in between questions, allow stars to let loose in a way that the audience might not see in a tight 10-minute interview on late night TV or a profile in The New York Times or Rolling Stone or on “60 Minutes.”
We should be careful not to draw too many sweeping conclusions about podcasts from Swift’s appearance on “New Heights.” Swift is a star, a mega-star, easily one of the biggest stars on the planet. Who actually compares to her in terms of popularity?
And yet an emerging trend is pretty evident: stars of all levels prefer podcasts over traditional media.
So let’s go back to the question that the PR exec asked Stelter: “Why would Taylor EVER do a mainstream media interview ever again?”
Stelter wrote, “Grasping for an answer, I thought, maybe Swift's team would consider a morning show sit-down or a primetime special if she were ever on the defensive over some scandal or something. Submitting to hard-hitting questions can have value in certain situations. But generally speaking, podcasts with friends are the PR way to go.”
As she does, Swift has taken over the media sphere with this appearance. Here are a couple of other stories that might interest you:
The Washington Post’s Emily Yahr with “5 takeaways from Taylor Swift’s unprecedented podcast interview.”
Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder with “The 10 best moments from Taylor Swift on New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce.”
