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Why Is Travis Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ Podcast Going on Hiatus and When Will It Return?
Travis Kelce announced his “New Heights” podcast with brother Jason Kelce will be going on hiatus.
Why Is Travis Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ Podcast Going on Hiatus?
Jason stated on their July 3 episode that Travis won’t have the time to devote to their weekly podcast as he has to report to the Kansas City Chiefs’ training camp and focus on the upcoming season.
“We got a nice couple months off from podcasting because, I guess, in three weeks time Travis will be in the middle of training camp,” he told listeners. “And let me tell you, not enough time to do a podcast, especially the best podcast in the world. He’s gonna be busy focusing on football, getting in shape for this upcoming season. So we’re gonna be off for about two months.”
The Chiefs’ open practices begin on July 21 and end on August 15. Their first preseason game is on August 10 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, although Travis doesn’t play in much of the preseason to avoid risking injury. The team has two more preseason games on August 17 and August 22, before kicking off their 2024 season against the Baltimore Ravens on September 5. The Chiefs beat the Ravens in the AFC Championship final to advance to Super Bowl 2024, where they defeated the San Francisco 49ers.
When Will Travis Kelce’s ‘New Heights’ Podcast Return?
“I’m down to pick it up once we’re done with training camp,” the three-time Super Bowl champ said about the timetable for the podcast’s return.
Jason, who retired from the Philadelphia Eagles in March after 13 seasons with the team, added that after discussions with the podcast’s producer, the end of August could see the return of “New Heights,” but didn’t specify a date.
How Many Listeners Does ‘New Heights’ Have?
The brothers launched the podcast in September 2022, and it quickly became a massive hit among sports fans. Travis and Jason offered unique insights into the NFL as two of the league’s most elite players, while also sprinkling in pop culture discussions.
“New Heights” went on to become the No. 1 Sports Podcast on Apple and Spotify and has 2.41 million YouTube subscribers as of the brothers’ final episode before going on hiatus.
How Has Travis Kelce’s Relationship With Taylor Swift Affected ‘New Heights’?
After the duo revealed their romance in September 2023, the “Fortnight” singer’s legion of followers wanted to know more about her new boyfriend and began tuning in to Travis and Jason’s podcast.
The Ohio native gave some of his earliest details about his relationship with the pop superstar via the podcast. As their romance progressed, Travis regularly updated fans about his trips to see Taylor’s Eras tour concerts, meeting each other’s family members and more insight into the couple’s life together.
The “Taylor Swift Effect” became evident in drawing new listeners to “New Heights,” as data from Edison Research showed that as of March 2024, the audience was 50 percent female and No. 6 in the U.S. for podcast listeners among females ages 13 and over.
By the final three months of 2023 in the year’s fourth quarter, “New Heights” ranked as the No. 6 U.S. podcast overall. Compared to the second quarter before Taylor and Travis’ romance began, the podcast wasn’t in the top 100.
