TV Audience

The Super Bowl confirmed once again its status as one of the most powerful live television events in the world. The 2026 edition, broadcast on Sunday, February 8 across NBC, Telemundo and the streaming platform Peacock (all part of Comcast), attracted an average audience of 124.9 million viewers, reaffirming the NFL championship game as a cornerstone of the global media calendar.

Although slightly below the 126 million viewers recorded last year on FOX, the event maintained exceptional reach and engagement. Audience levels climbed steadily throughout the evening, peaking at 137.8 million viewers late in the second quarter, demonstrating the unmatched ability of live sports to concentrate mass audiences in real time — an increasingly rare phenomenon in today’s fragmented media landscape.

The Super Bowl’s strength lies in its hybrid nature: it is simultaneously a sporting final, a cultural celebration and a major entertainment showcase. This year’s edition reinforced that positioning through a high-profile halftime show headlined by global Latin superstar Bad Bunny, whose participation highlighted the growing strategic importance of Hispanic and international audiences for U.S. broadcasters and advertisers.

The halftime production featured a lineup of special guests and surprise appearances, blending music, spectacle and cross-cultural appeal. Despite the artist’s global popularity and massive streaming presence, the halftime segment saw a temporary dip of approximately 6.1 million viewers, who briefly switched to alternative programming — a reminder that audience behavior during mega-events remains dynamic even at this scale.

However, the broader picture confirms the Super Bowl’s resilience: even with momentary fluctuations, the event continues to dominate the television ecosystem and deliver unparalleled reach across linear and digital platforms.