Super Bowl averages 124.9M viewers in US, Bad Bunny’s halftime 128.2M/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Super Bowl 60 averaged 124.9 million U.S. viewers, short of last year’s record. Bad Bunny’s halftime show reached 128.2 million viewers but missed the all-time mark. NBC still delivered record network numbers and massive social media engagement.
Super Bowl 60 Ratings – Quick Looks
- Game averaged 124.9 million U.S. viewers
- Peak audience hit record 137.8 million
- Bad Bunny halftime averaged 128.2 million viewers
- Spanish-language broadcast set new record
- NFL playoffs and season ratings remain strong
Deep Look: Super Bowl 60 and Bad Bunny Draw Massive Audiences but Miss Records
Super Bowl 60 delivered another massive television audience, but it fell just short of breaking U.S. viewership records.
Seattle’s 29-13 win over New England averaged 124.9 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+, according to Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel measurement system. While the figure cements the game’s dominance as the most-watched annual event in American television, it trailed last year’s 127.7 million viewers for Philadelphia’s victory over Kansas City on Fox.
Even so, the broadcast marked the most-watched program in NBC’s history as the network celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Record-Breaking Peak Audience
Despite the overall average coming up short, the game set a new U.S. peak viewership record. During the second quarter (7:45–8 p.m. Eastern), the audience surged to 137.8 million viewers — narrowly surpassing last year’s record of 137.7 million.
Super Bowl 60 extended the streak of games averaging over 100 million viewers to five consecutive years. However, it snapped a four-year trend of increasing total audiences.
The game itself lacked late-game drama. Seattle led 12-0 entering the fourth quarter in what became only the second Super Bowl in history without a touchdown scored during the first three quarters.
Bad Bunny’s Halftime Performance
The halftime show headlined by Bad Bunny averaged 128.2 million viewers between 8:15 and 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
That makes it the fourth-most watched halftime show in U.S. history. It trails:
- Kendrick Lamar (133.5 million, 2025)
- Michael Jackson (133.4 million, 1993)
- Usher (129.3 million, 2024)
Though not a record-setter, Bad Bunny’s performance dominated social media. According to NFL and Ripple Analytics data, the halftime show generated 4 billion social media views within the first 24 hours — a 137% increase from last year.
More than 55% of those views originated from international markets, underscoring the NFL’s growing global footprint.
Spanish-Language Milestone
Telemundo averaged 3.3 million viewers, making it the most-watched Spanish-language Super Bowl broadcast in U.S. history. The Spanish-language telecast peaked at 4.8 million viewers during halftime, also a record.
The milestone highlights the league’s expanding reach among Hispanic audiences since Spanish-language broadcasts began in 2014.
Alternate Halftime Show and Online Engagement
An alternate halftime performance hosted by conservative group Turning Point USA and featuring Kid Rock peaked at 5 million viewers on YouTube at one point. Nielsen does not measure YouTube livestream data, though online view counts surpassed 21 million within two days.
By comparison, Bad Bunny’s official halftime video surpassed 61 million views in the same timeframe.
Olympics Boost from Super Bowl Lead-In
NBC capitalized on the Super Bowl’s massive lead-in audience. Its Winter Olympics program, “Primetime in Milan,” averaged 42 million viewers — the largest Winter Olympics audience for NBC since Day 2 of the 2014 Sochi Games.
That represented a 73% increase compared with the Olympics broadcast following Super Bowl 56.
NBC Sports President Rick Cordella credited the Super Bowl’s powerful audience flow into Olympic coverage, calling both events “the two most powerful events in the world.”
Strong NFL Season Continues
The NFL’s momentum extended beyond the Super Bowl. The playoffs averaged 37 million viewers during the first three weekends — up 5% from last year and the second-most watched in a decade.
The regular season averaged 18.7 million viewers per game, marking the second-highest figure since tracking began in 1988 and a 10% increase from the previous year.
While Super Bowl 60 didn’t rewrite the record books, its sustained dominance across traditional television, streaming, and social platforms underscores the NFL’s unmatched hold on American sports viewership.
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