According to Samba TV, Bad Bunny’s Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show performance drew 26.5 million U.S. households, marking a sharp 39% decline from the 43.4 million households that watched Kendrick Lamar’s show in 2025.
Samba TV measures household-level viewing directly from opted-in smart TVs using Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology, which detects on-screen content in real time. This approach focuses on connected TV households and excludes individual viewers, phones, tablets, laptops, out-of-home viewing, or non-smart-TV sources. Samba TV’s methodology has remained consistent year-over-year without major changes in technique, making its data apples-to-apples for tracking trends in household engagement over time.
In contrast, Nielsen reported that Bad Bunny’s halftime show averaged 128.2 million viewers in the U.S. from 8:15–8:30 p.m. ET on February 8, 2026. Nielsen uses its Big Data + Panel methodology, combining large-scale data from set-top boxes, smart TVs, and other sources with a representative household panel to estimate total individual viewers across broadcast, streaming, and platforms, including adjustments for co-viewing and cross-device behavior.
Nielsen quarter-hour data showed a dip during the halftime slot: viewership fell to 128.2 million, representing about a 4% decline from Kendrick Lamar’s prior-year halftime average and roughly a 5.7% drop from the immediately preceding quarter-hour (and a 7% decline from the game’s second-quarter peak of 137.8–137.9 million viewers).
The overall Super Bowl LX telecast, featuring the Seattle Seahawks’ less-than-scintillating 29-13 win over the New England Patriots, averaged 124.9 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, and other platforms per Nielsen — down slightly (about 2%) from last year’s record, but still the second-most-watched in U.S. history. The game peaked at 137.8 million viewers during the second quarter.
Bad Bunny’s set, performed largely in Spanish with a focus on Puerto Rican culture, choreography, and a live on-air wedding segment was the most-watched Super Bowl halftime in Spanish-language history on Telemundo (averaging 4.8 million viewers).
The Super Bowl halftime slot also featured counter-programming from Turning Point USA (TPUSA), which streamed its “All-American Halftime Show” on YouTube (featuring Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, Gabby Barrett, and others) as an alternative during the official halftime slot. The TPUSA stream peaked at around 6.1 million concurrent viewers on YouTube, with live viewership in the 5–6 million range during the head-to-head window and total views climbing to over 19–21 million in the following days (including on-demand replays). It was also available on the Christian network TBN, though specific linear TV ratings for that broadcast were not widely reported.
The selection of Bad Bunny as Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show headliner was ultimately decided by Jay-Z through his entertainment company, Roc Nation. Since 2019, the NFL has partnered with Roc Nation, designating it as the league’s live music entertainment strategist. This arrangement gives Roc Nation oversight of halftime show production and the lead role in selecting the artist each year.
Multiple sources confirm Jay-Z’s decisive influence. Executive producer Jesse Collins has stated plainly that “it’s a decision that Jay makes” and has done so every year since the partnership began. Apple Music’s Zane Lowe described Jay-Z as the one person who makes that decision, while co-head Rachel Newman called him the “ultimate curator,” noting that even senior leadership at Apple remains unaware of the pick until close to the announcement due to tight secrecy.
The NFL, Apple Music (title sponsor since 2023), and Roc Nation collaborate on the process, which typically begins shortly after the previous Super Bowl and finalizes the artist by late summer or early fall. The league provides input to ensure alignment with the event’s audience and moment, but Roc Nation drives the choice.
MacDailyNews Note: According to Apple, immediately after the Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show, Bad Bunny listens on Apple Music rose 7x. Bad Bunny’s “DtMF,” “BAILE INoLVIDABLE,” and “Tití Me Preguntó” were the most streamed songs immediately after the show.
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What an embarrassment to the game, to the league and to the country.
What garbage passes for music these days.
What an embarrassment that you feel so offended by an American putting on a show that your racist sensibilities can’t tolerate because it’s in Spanish.
You were probably watching a bad Kid Rock show, so just FYI Bad Bunny was really fun and entertaining
If you are devoid of taste or context…sadly so.
I used to really like this site on the late 90’s. It used to be full of intelligent, knowledgeable people, who would burn you if you got your Mac Law wrong.
Now it’s full of stupid Trump troupers with terrible moral aim.
Sadly, the Kid Rock counter-programming wasn’t any better. Couldn’t even be bothered to lip-sync his own songs. Trump simply amplified BB’s megaphone by voicing his displeasure, producing the classic Streisand effect.
“The language the NFL speaks is dollars and cents. Globally, Bad Bunny is more popular than the NFL itself, and landing him was a marketing coup, especially since the league has made growing its Latino fanbase a priority. The NFL selecting Bad Bunny as the headliner of the Super Bowl LX halftime show was one of the simplest business decisions in the history of capitalism. In 2025, the Puerto Rican singer and rapper was the world’s most-streamed artist for the fourth time. That the United States’ most popular sports league would enlist one of the country’s most popular musicians for its marquee event is, on pure business terms, not that interesting. ”
And just FYI, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime show set a record for social media consumption with 4 billion views in the first 24 hours.
Funny how the media propaganda to prop up this horrible decision seems to work on the feeble minded.
Bad Bunny’s latest single on YouTube from nearly a year ago has 74 million views, which for a free click and a few seconds of viewing counting towards that number is basically a failure. His tours are limited to Puerto Rico, unable to sell out tours in the US.
A billion social media shares? Mostly mocking the entire mess. And that Neilsen number is completely fabricated unless they have access to the streaming app numbers, which they do not.
NBC even had to pipe in a fake audience audio during the performance because the actual crowd was dead silent in disbelief.
It’s the US 250th birthday with the most American sport and JayZ chose to yet again mock the actual audience that watches the NFL.
Because people go to Youtube to listen to music, and not say Spotify or Apple Music.
Having Bad Bunny perform the halftime show
Was a business decision. Latino’s are the fastest growing demographic in the country and their football of choice is soccer. The NFL was just appealing to the masses and trying to expand their base.