Amid the whirlwind of celebrity gossip and high-profile romances, when does media coverage cross the line into overexposure? Results from the latest Yahoo Entertainment/YouGov suggest that many Americans believe it already has, particularly when it comes to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship.
Of the 1,675 U.S. adults surveyed about their views on the seemingly ubiquitous attention paid to the pair since rumors began about their courtship in September, 55% percent of respondents feel they’ve become inundated with updates, saying the media has covered the Swift-Kelce romance “too much.” Meanwhile, 12% say the media’s coverage has been “about the right amount” while 4% say it’s not enough.
Those sentiments are strikingly similar for football fans, with 54% of respondents agreeing the NFL spent “too much time” focusing on Swift during the recent Chiefs games she attended. Comparatively, 13% say the NFL spent the “right amount of time” on it, while 3% wanted more.
It’s also worth noting that 31% of respondents claimed to have heard “nothing” about the new couple, while 44% said they’d heard very “little” and 26% have heard “a lot” about it in recent weeks.
Only 23% of those polled said they were fans of the pop star while 67% say they aren’t Swifties.
The talk of the town
Results from the poll come just days after the couple made headlines in New York City, when they delivered a surprise visit to Saturday Night Live on Oct. 14.
Kelce spoke about the epic night on Wednesday’s episode of his podcast, New Heights, which he co-hosts alongside his brother, Jason Kelce.
“It was electric to be back in that place,” he said of his first time back at Studio 8H since he hosted the show in March, noting that he and Swift went to support her friend, rapper Ice Spice, who made her SNL debut that weekend alongside host Pete Davidson. “There is just something about being in that room. And being their first episode this season, I had such a freaking blast man.”
Continued NFL coverage with ‘Papa Kelce’
On the podcast, the brothers also spoke about Ed Kelce getting to know Swift during the Kansas City Chiefs’ game against the Denver Broncos on Thursday when they sat next to each other.
“Papa Kelce in the spotlight,” Jason said. “If you were watching the game, you saw something momentous happen, which was Taylor Swift talking to Ed Kelce.”
“This is a terrifying conversation. I felt terrible for Taylor for being in this,” Travis joked before calling Ed the “best f***ing dad in the world.”
Travis shared that Ed has been listening to Swift’s music “a little more,” before giving him a shout-out.
“Thanks Dad, for not making me look bad, brother,” he said.
Taylor and Travis aren’t the only stars to elicit fatigue
Swift and Kelce are not the only celebrities who may have worn out the public’s welcome mat. Others have included Dwayne Johnson, Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway, to name a few. As it turns out, finding a sweet spot when it comes to media coverage is something publicists to the stars are very aware of — but it’s not always easy.
“You want to make sure [the celebrity is] connected to their audience and they’re connected to their fans, but not so much where the fans are rolling their eyes every time they hear their name,” Liza Anderson, Hollywood publicist and founder of Anderson Group Public Relations, recently told Yahoo Entertainment.
Len Evans, co-founder of Project Publicity, agreed, stressing that balance has to do with quality over quantity. “You don’t want to be in every magazine. You don’t want to be on every talk show. Strategy for a celebrity is key,” he told Yahoo.
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The Yahoo Entertainment survey was conducted by YouGov using a nationally representative sample of 1,675 U.S. adults interviewed online from Oct. 12 to 16, 2023. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, education, 2020 election turnout and presidential vote, baseline party identification and current voter registration status. Demographic weighting targets come from the 2019 American Community Survey. Baseline party identification is the respondent’s most recent answer given prior to Nov. 1, 2022, and is weighted to the estimated distribution at that time (33% Democratic, 27% Republican). Respondents were selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel to be representative of all U.S. adults. The margin of error is approximately 2.7%.
