The “Taylor Swift effect” has reached the podcasting scene. The pop icon is set to make a rare appearance on the “New Heights” podcast this Wednesday, which is cohosted by her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce.
Being involved with one of the world’s most recognized personalities can significantly expand your audience. Recently, engagement with the podcast’s posts soared on Instagram. Swift combined her massive following of 280 million on Instagram with Kelce’s audience to unveil her upcoming twelfth studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” in a midnight Instagram post. Remarkably, less than 12 hours later, the post on the “New Heights” account garnered 4.5 million likes and an impressive engagement rate of 145%, according to social media analytics platform Metricool.
Metricool calculates engagement by comparing the total likes and comments a post receives to the account’s follower count at the time of posting. The “New Heights” account had approximately 3.1 million followers. For context, a typical Instagram post sees an engagement rate between 0.5% and 0.69%, depending on the format.
Another teaser from “New Heights,” which didn’t reach Swift’s audience, still achieved over 1.7 million likes and more than 60,000 comments, achieving a 54% engagement rate based solely on the podcast’s followers.
Swift’s influence isn’t only benefiting “New Heights.” Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast teased a mystery guest shortly before the “New Heights” announcement, attracting comments from excited Swifties and reaching an engagement rate of 2.46%.
The highly anticipated interview featuring Swift discussing various topics with Travis and his brother Jason Kelce will air this Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET. “New Heights” has previously featured A-listers like LeBron James, whose announcement post received over 600,000 likes, but Swift’s rare podcast appearance is expected to elevate the show to new heights.
As the teaser caption put it: “Taylor’s about to do a f*cking podcast.”