After two days of dodgy reports, including many from partisan sources, the real viewership numbers for Sunday’s Super Bowl, and its halftime show, are in.
According to ESPN’s NFL reporter Adam Schefter, “Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show averaged 128.2 million viewers from 8:15 pm ET to 8:30 pm ET, breaking NFL social media records.” Schefter cited Nielsen ratings.
NBC announced Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show averaged 128.2 million viewers from 8:15 pm ET to 8:30 pm ET, breaking NFL social media records. pic.twitter.com/755lrCGTJf
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 11, 2026
As for the game itself, it averaged 124.9 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched Super Bowl in history, after last year’s. It also shows that more people watched the halftime show than the game itself.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
This would appear to disprove any assertions that the Bad Bunny halftime show was rejected by audiences, that the competition from Turning Point USA’s alternative show put any meaningful dent in the official halftime show, or that the decision to go with Bad Bunny cost the NFL any significant amount of money.
Meanwhile, multiple Republican members of Congress have threatened “investigations” of the halftime show, per MS NOW.
🚨The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show was pure smut, brazenly aired on national television for every American family to witness. Children were forced to endure explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his… pic.twitter.com/wcWTofhQQn
— Rep. Andy Ogles (@RepOgles) February 9, 2026
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) has described Bad Bunny’s performance as “illegal,” while Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) called it ““pure smut,” alleging that the show included “explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry-humping the air.” It’s unclear what Ogles saw during that show that constituted “gay sexual acts,” but it doesn’t appear any of the other 128.2 million viewers saw what he saw.
Ogles nevertheless demanded that “the Energy and Commerce Committee launch a formal congressional inquiry into the National Football League and NBC immediately for their prior knowledge, deliberate approval, and facilitation of this indecent broadcast. American culture will not be mocked or corrupted without consequence.”
Various translations of Bad Bunny’s lyrics, of dubious provenance, have also circulated online, implying that he used cursing or explicit lyrics during the show.
It’s not clear if any investigation will take place, but at any rate, this looks like a throwback to the outcry following the Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson “Nipplegate” incident in 2004. Except this time, of course, there was no nudity.
Photo courtesy of an X screenshot.
