The 2026 Super Bowl didn’t draw in another all-time record, but it was close, with the game becoming the second most-watched Super Bowl to date.
Super Bowl LX, which saw the Seattle Seahawks defeat the New England Patriots in a defense-heavy game, brought in an average 124.9 million viewers across NBC NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital and NFL+, according to live-plus-same-day Nielsen big data plus panel figures.
That’s down a mere 2.19% from last year’s game, which hit an all-time viewership record as it reached 127.7 million viewers for the Chiefs-Eagles game. Both the 2025 and 2026 Super Bowl surpassed the 2024 game’s viewership of 123.7 million, which, at the time, marked the event’s biggest audience in history. Additionally, Super Bowl LX ranks as the most-watched show in the history of NBCUniversal.
Bad Bunny’s halftime show brought in 128.2 million viewers as it aired from 8:15-8:30 p.m. ET in the U.S., though final global viewership will be available next week.
For comparison, Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 halftime show set a new record as the most-watched Super Bowl halftime performance in history with 133.5 million viewers, rising 3% from the 129.3 million viewers that tuned into Usher’s halftime show the previous year.
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The Super Bowl peaked with 137.8 million viewers in the second quarter, which marks the highest peak viewership in U.S. TV history.
Additionally, both the Super Bowl and the halftime show soared to their highest Spanish-language viewership, with the game averaging 3.3 million viewers on Telemundo. The Telemundo audience peaked during the halftime show with an average of 4.8 million viewers, marking the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show in Spanish-language history.
Both the Super Bowl as well as the post-game debut of of “The Burbs” boosted Peacock to reach its best day ever in terms of both reach and hours streamed, with “The Burbs” scoring the biggest premiere day for a Peacock original ever.
“The Super Bowl and the NFL once again delivered a blockbuster audience across the NBC broadcast network, Peacock, and Telemundo, and provided an unprecedented lead-in to our Primetime in Milan coverage,” NBC Sports president Rick Cordella said in a statement. “The Super Bowl and the Olympics are the two most powerful events in the world, and we salute our talented production, tech and announce teams who delivered best-in-class presentations for our viewers, stations and partners.”
It’s worth noting that while the 2025 game was available to stream on Fox-owned FAST channel Tubi, this year’s game didn’t include a free streaming option as NBCUniversal drove subscribers to Peacock amidst the Olympics and ahead of the NBA all-star game.
The game itself wasn’t much to write home about, with the Seahawks leading the Patriots 9–0 at halftime. Things got more interesting in the fourth quarter, but not enough to secure a victory for New England. The Seahawks ultimately won 29–13.
The energy was picked up by Bad Bunny’s halftime show, which saw the musician make history as the first halftime performer to sing entirely in Spanish. Paying tribute to Puerto Rico and celebrating the Latinidad community, Bad Bunny welcomed Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga to perform alongside him. He also brought in celebrities, including the likes of Pedro Pascal, Karol G, Cardi B, Jessica Alba and Alix Earle, to the field to participate in the festivities.
