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Bad Bunny’s Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show sees 39% household viewership drop vs. last year, Samba TV data shows

MacDailyNews

Feb 11

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Bad Bunny’s Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show (image: Apple Inc.)

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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