NFL and Bad Bunny deflate: Super Bowl viewership fell below 2025 levels

The moment of truth shattered the upbeat and optimistic forecasts of NBC—the network that broadcast the Super Bowl—, the NFL and those who sought to turn Bad Bunny's performance into an example of the success of the anti-Trump fight. With official metrics in hand, the world's biggest sporting spectacle recorded lower numbers in 2026 than the previous edition.

To top it all off, the unexpected competition from Turning Point USA’s alternative halftime show has turned into a hit, drawing more than six million viewers for the live broadcast and surpassing 21 million views on YouTube.

According to Nielsen, the Seattle Seahawks’ 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots in the NFL final averaged 124.9 million viewers across NBC, streaming platform Peacock, Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital and NFL+.

A figure that is not bad, but one weighed down by earlier projections

The figure, actually, is not bad, since it implies that it is the second most-watched program in U.S. history, behind only the 127.7 million viewers who watched the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs by 40-22 in the Super Bowl in 2025 on Fox.

In fact, the second quarter went on to reach 137.8 million viewers, the highest peak audience in U.S. television history.

However, the inflated hype pushed by interested networks throughout Monday, assuring that their data pointed to an all-time record for both the game itself and Bad Bunny’s performance, has fallen flat, and the results can be seen as a letdown.

Bad Bunny, behind Kendrick Lamar, Michael Jackson and Usher

As for halftime, Bad Bunny averaged 128.2 million viewers far behind Kendrick Lamar's 133.5 million in 2025, the most watched in history.

But the Puerto Rican singer didn't even make it onto the ranking podium. The second place will remain in the hands of Michael Jackson and his 133.4 million viewers achieved in 1993. An unbeatable figure for more than two decades.

The third most-watched performance was that of Usher, in 2024, which managed to draw 129.3 million according to Nielsen data.

The success of TPUSA's alternative show, a danger to the NFL?

In the face of the bitter aftertaste that remains for the organizers of the event, especially the NFL, comes the joy of TPUSA, whose show, organized in just 5 months after the announcement that Bad Bunny would be the halftime headliner, has achieved some milestones far above what was expected.

Kid Rock and company congregated in front of the screens more than 6 million viewersduring the live show, and already recording already accumulates more than 21 million at the moment on YouTube. Figures that show that the NFL could have achieved the desired record without these desertions.

The result also opens a new front, which the NFL must address first. The network sells the rights exclusively to a television network for a hefty fee, guaranteeing a large audience and commercials worth every millisecond in gold.

Although TPUSA never used images from the original Super Bowl, it did take advantage of the mythical event as a hook for its show. In fact, its title is The All-American Halftime Show, a clear reference to the NFL event.

An open door or a blunt response from the NFL?

The more than 6 million people who potentially stopped watching the NFL show to watch TPUSA's are a clear detriment to the Football League, to which must be added the views that continue to accrue after the game. In addition, the song performed by Kid Rock was the number 1 streaming song in the US during the day after the event.

This could open the door to TPUSA itself or other organizations trying to use Halftime as a lure to launch alternative programs that swell their numbers and give them notoriety, to the detriment of the original event.