The 60th Super Bowl, broadcast on NBC and Peacock, drew a massive audience of 124.93 million viewers, just shy of last year’s record-breaking 127.71 million viewers. The game, which saw the Seattle Seahawks defeat the New England Patriots 29-13, was the second most-watched telecast in American TV history. Despite the one-sided nature of the game, which may have led some viewers to tune out after halftime, NBC set an all-time record for peak viewership with 137.8 million viewers during the second quarter.
The halftime show, starring Bad Bunny, was a major draw, attracting 128.2 million viewers, down only 4% from last year’s record-breaking performance by Kendrick Lamar. The show was a huge success on social media, with 4 billion views in 24 hours, more than double the total from last year’s show. Telemundo’s Spanish-language broadcast of the game drew a record 3.3 million viewers, while Bad Bunny’s performance averaged 4.8 million viewers, also a Spanish-language record.
The game was the first to be measured under Nielsen’s new big data plus panel measurement, which tends to benefit live events. However, the one-sided nature of the game may have pushed some viewers away after halftime. NBCUniversal reported that its streamer, Peacock, had its biggest day ever in terms of reach and hours viewed, thanks to the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, and the premiere of its new series, The Burbs.
The Winter Olympics, which aired immediately after the Super Bowl, drew a significant audience, with 42 million cross-platform viewers, the largest Winter Olympics audience since 2014. This represents a 73% increase over the same day of the 2022 games, which also followed the Super Bowl. Overall, the Super Bowl and Olympics combined to make for a huge day of sports viewing, with NBCUniversal reporting significant gains in viewership and engagement across its platforms.