Super Bowl Didn't Break Any Viewership Records

Sunday night's Super Bowl and Bad Bunny fell short of setting records for most-watched US broadcast and halftime show. The AP reports Seattle's 29-13 victory over New England averaged 124.9 million viewers on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+, according to Nielsen's Big Data + Panel rating system. That fell short of the record 127.7 million US viewers that tuned in for Philadelphia's 40-22 victory over Kansas City last year on Fox. Deadline notes that despite the 2.2% decline, it was still the second most-watched Super Bowl ever, and one of the most-watched TV programs of all time.

Bad Bunny's halftime show averaged 128.2 million viewers from 8:15-8:30 p.m. Eastern. That would make it the fourth-most watched halftime behind Kendrick Lamar (133.5 million, 2025), Michael Jackson (133.4 million, 1993) and Usher (129.3 million, 2024). Turning Point USA's "All American Halftime Show," meanwhile, had up to 6.1 million concurrent viewers on YouTube Sunday night, per the New York Times.