How the NFL's Thanksgiving Day Halftime Shows Boosted Recorded Music Consumption for Dolly Parton and Jack Harlow

The Overview:?

The 2023 NFL Thanksgiving games not only featured exciting football matchups but also integrated star-studded halftime shows, contributing to record-breaking viewership numbers. The day kicked off with the Detroit Lions facing the Green Bay Packers, where rap superstar Jack Harlow performed, drawing an impressive 33.7 million viewers, the highest ever for the 12:30 p.m. ET slot. This was followed by the Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Commanders?

game, boasting a halftime show by global icon Dolly Parton. This game captured a staggering 41.8 million viewers, peaking at nearly 44.3 million, making it the most-watched program since Super Bowl LVII and the second-largest audience for an NFL regular-season game on record. The final game of the day, featuring the ?Seattle Seahawks against the San Francisco 49ers?with dance music icon Steve Aoki performing at halftime, drew 26.9 million viewers across various platforms, becoming NBC Sports' most-streamed primetime NFL Thanksgiving game and the second-most-watched Thanksgiving primetime game since 2015. Overall, these Thanksgiving games averaged a combined viewership of 34.1 million across all platforms, setting a new high for NFL Thanksgiving Day viewership.

Understanding The Artists Involved:?

Piggybacking off the NFL's Thanksgiving Day's impressive viewership numbers, each artist capitalized on the opportunity to promote new music. They focused not only on driving consumption to their new projects but also on highlighting past catalog hits. Here's how each artist utilized their halftime performance time:

• Jack Harlow, a young rap sensation from Louisville, Kentucky, utilized the halftime show at the Detroit Lions game as a strategic opportunity to promote his latest chart-topping single “Lovin on Me.” Released on November 10, this single, following his April album 'Jackman', has been a significant part of Harlow's growing stardom, positioning him at the forefront of the hip-hop scene. Despite a performance that faced criticism for its lack of energy and what appeared to be a low-budget appearance, Harlow's setlist, which featured hits like “Tyler Herro” and “First Class,” was a hit showcasing just how deep his catalog goes.?

• Dolly Parton, the beloved 77-year-old Queen of Country, graced the Dallas Cowboys halftime show, providing a stark contrast to Harlow's act. The performance was not just a nod to her legacy, but also timed perfectly with the release of her 49th studio album, "Rockstar," which was recently released on November 17th. This album, a foray into rock music featuring a blend of covers and originals, has been heralded as her highest charting album to date. As Parton no longer tours, this event was a rare and valuable platform for her to promote "Rockstar" to a wide audience, showcasing her adaptability and enduring charm to new and old fans.

• Steve Aoki added a different dimension to the NFL's lineup. His latest album "HiROQUEST: Double Helix" represents not just his musical evolution as a DJ but also his entry into the world of NFTs, combining his most recent album with graphic novels, and trading cards. Although Aoki’s performance showed the NFL’s eagerness to lean more into the power of EDM, his halftime performance wasn't aired due to the fact that NBC, the network broadcasting the Thanksgiving Day game, opted to air commercials during his live performance.

From EDM to Hip-Hop, the NFL Thanksgiving Day halftime show continues to be a mix of today’s most impactful hits blended in with timeless classics. It’s clear, the NFL’s choices of halftime performers must cater to a wide array of demographics, seeing that as of 2022 their fanbase in the US alone eclipsed more than 184 million fans.?

Our Key Insights:?

In an effort to quantify the impact the Thanksgiving Day halftime performances had on each of the three performers, the Beats + Bytes team leveraged data from Chartmetric and Google Trends to gain a deeper understanding of how each game's show influenced the artists' catalog consumption and social following. Here is what we found:

• Dolly Parton's halftime show not only captivated the audience but also dominated Google web searches, becoming the most searched-for performance of the day. Our analysis indicates that searches for Dolly Parton’s Thanksgiving halftime show were nearly 70% higher than those for Jack Harlow and soared 970% above Steve Aoki's (refer to the graph below).?

• Dolly Parton’s performance announcement spurred fans of old and new to explore Parton’s Wikipedia page before the big halftime show. Our analysis found that 24 hours before her performance, her Wikipedia page views surged by 677,504 views resulting in a 3005.39% increase in views compared to the day prior.?

• Despite Dolly Parton’s halftime show being the most watched and searched event of the evening, it was surprising to see that she only gained 140,856 new monthly listeners on Spotify 24 hours after her performance.

• Upon realizing that Dolly Parton's monthly listenership hadn't shifted as much as we had expected, it was intriguing to observe that, 24 hours following her performance, the three songs she performed collectively garnered 736,308 new streams. More specifically, "Jolene" saw an increase of 416,688 streams, "9 to 5" experienced a boost of 304,096 streams, and her rendition of "We Are The Champions / We Will Rock You" added a further 15,524 streams.

• For Jack Harlow, the online criticism he faced for his performance setup didn’t impact the momentum he gained from the millions of viewers who tuned in to see his show. He saw a sizable gain in his Spotify monthly listenership, netting 1,069,766 new monthly listeners, resulting in a 2.40% increase post his NFL Thanksgiving day performance (see graph below).?

• Given the substantial rise in new monthly listeners, it wasn't unexpected to observe a significant surge in streaming numbers within 24 hours following his performance. Jack Harlow's live rendition of five songs resulted in an impressive 6,562,405 new streams on Spotify. His latest release, 'Lovin On Me,' led this surge with an increase of 4,584,357 streams, marking a 10.42% rise. In addition, 'Tyler Hero' experienced a boost of 440,810 streams (0.09% increase), 'What's Poppin' gained 365,144 streams (0.05% increase), 'Industry Baby' saw an increase of 700,934 streams (0.04% increase), and 'First Class' added 471,160 streams (0.06% increase).

The Takeaway:?

The NFL's successful integration of music with their sports entertainment is a model of innovation. By combining high-caliber football with outstanding musical performances, not only do they break their own ratings records, but they also significantly benefit the artists involved. These performances may offer greater exposure for musicians than most award shows or cultural events, apart from the Super Bowl halftime show. This success is a vital lesson for leagues like the NBA, which are not only grappling with the impact of cord-cutting but are also on the precipice of renegotiations with major networks for the league’s TV rights. This makes the current season's ratings some of the most critical in recent memory, suggesting that integrating more music into broadcasts could be a strategic move to enhance game appeal and captivate viewers in an increasingly competitive attention economy.

Editor’s Note Research assisted by Soleill Eugeni & Jordan Chesebrough, Associates at CAD Management LLC.

Research Note: Please be aware that the editorial team at Beats + Bytes and Chartmetric chose not to include an analysis of Steve Aoki's social and catalog performance in our report. This decision was made due to the fact that NBC, the network broadcasting the Thanksgiving Day game, opted to air commercials during his live performance, thereby limiting the full extent of his set's exposure to the millions of viewers tuned in for the night's final game between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers.

Research Assisted By: Gabriella Raful