Data visualization refutes notion Taylor Swift is frequently seen on TV at Chiefs games

Are you a football fan who is suffering from Taylor Swift Burnout?

Symptoms include irritability, mood swings and the need to share your displeasure on social media. All take place when international singing star Taylor Swift is shown on television during a Chiefs game.

That’s not a real affliction, of course.

And we learned this week that football fans who think TV networks show too many shots of Swift in a stadium suite cheering for her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, have got it wrong.

A Reddit user put together this data visualization that shows how often Swift was shown by CBS and Peacock during the Chiefs playoff games.

That’s based on a New York Times story that found Swift was shown 10 times for a total of 1 minute, 40 seconds in the playoff wins over the Dolphins and Bills.

That’s 0.46% of the time during those contests (based on the length of the games).

The Times story also looked at the last two regular-season games Swift attended at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Those were the Christmas Day loss to the Raiders and the New Year’s Eve victory over the Bengals.

The CBS cameras focused on Swift three times in each game (six total) for a combined 26 seconds. Oh, the humanity.

“It is always a balance with what’s happening on the field and how you can enhance what’s happening on the field,” Rob Hyland, the coordinating producer for NBC’s Sunday Night Football, told the Times. “It wasn’t like, ‘Hey, let’s, let’s show her this many times.’ It was, ‘Hey, when appropriate, let’s remind the audience that she’s there.’”

The backlash

When Swift attended her first Chiefs game in September, it was big news and the Fox Sports’ cameras cut to her frequently. When one of the most famous people on the planet appears at a game, it’s going to be big news.

But as the visualization and Times story both show, Swift has been shown much less frequently.

Still, fans go on social media to decry the attention shown to Swift. And that in turn, has led to a backlash from people who say the haters need to chill out. NFL Network host Rich Eisen dubbed it “toxic masculinity” and said Swift has been good for the league. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said people need to quit disrespecting Swift.

Swift addressed the anger from some football fans in an interview last year with Time magazine.

“I’m just there to support Travis,” she said. “I have no awareness of if I’m being shown too much and pissing off a few dads, Brads, and Chads.”

And now we know: the 12-time Grammy winner actually isn’t being shown much at all.