Approximately 125 million people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl this past Sunday, marking the event as the most-watched program in NBC’s century-long history, as reported by the network on Tuesday. According to Nielsen ratings, this year’s Super Bowl was classified as the second-most watched broadcast in U.S. history, trailing only last year’s game, which aired on Fox.
The official viewer count of 124.9 million reflects the average audience per minute across all four quarters of the game. Notably, the halftime performance featuring Bad Bunny drew an even larger audience, with 128.2 million viewers tuning in.
In contrast, a YouTube stream promoted by Turning Point USA as a conservative alternative to Bad Bunny peaked at around 6 million viewers, highlighting the difference in viewer metrics across platforms.
The Seattle Seahawks’ decisive victory over the New England Patriots may have contributed to some viewers leaving early, explaining why last year’s Eagles-Chiefs matchup maintained a slightly higher overall viewership of nearly 128 million.
This year’s peak audience occurred during the second quarter, with 137.8 million viewers engaged concurrently. The figures released by NBC also encompassed viewership from the Telemundo broadcast network, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+. The Spanish-language Telemundo network attracted an average of 3.3 million viewers, experiencing a notable surge during Bad Bunny’s halftime show, which was performed predominantly in Spanish. Telemundo’s ratings soared during the performance, averaging 4.8 million viewers—setting a record for the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in Spanish-language history.
In an exciting twist, NBC reported that the halftime performance accumulated an astounding four billion views across various online and TV platforms within 24 hours, according to a third-party measurement firm. Following the broadcast, streams of Bad Bunny’s music reportedly skyrocketed by seven times.
NBC also leveraged the Super Bowl’s massive viewership to promote its upcoming coverage of the Winter Olympics, with the immediate following segment attracting an impressive 42 million viewers. This strategic combination proved successful, further emphasizing the Super Bowl’s ongoing status as America’s prime television event.