Fake News on Bad Bunny Halftime Ratings

Ever since Bad Bunny was announced as the headliner for the Super Bowl LX halftime show, segments of the MAGA community, conservatives, and right-wing commentators expressed significant discontent, often framing the choice as divisive due to the artist's Puerto Rican heritage and his performance entirely in Spanish. Critics launched online campaigns decrying the show as "woke" or un-American, with some promoting an alternative "All-American Halftime Show" hosted by Turning Point USA featuring Kid Rock. 

Despite these efforts to undermine the official performance through social media backlash and calls for boycotts, the Super Bowl drew 137 million at peak and 124.9 million viewers overall—making it the second-most watched in history, though slightly down from the previous year's record—while Bad Bunny's set attracted 137 million and dipped to 128.2 million at the end of the halftime at 8:15 PM, ranking best of all-time per the data. The game itself was widely regarded as lackluster, with a defensive slog that saw no touchdowns until the fourth quarter, but the halftime spectacle generated widespread buzz, eliciting praise for its celebration of Latino culture alongside sharp rebukes from detractors like President Donald Trump, who labeled it "one of the worst, EVER."

Ironically, footage from Trump's Super Bowl watch party at his Florida golf club showed the Bad Bunny performance playing on screens, rather than the TPUSA alternative, which peaked at around 6 million concurrent viewers on YouTube—far below the official halftime numbers and even outpaced by the Puppy Bowl's 15.3 million audience. In the aftermath, some right-wing outlets have circulated graphs and analyses purporting to show a steeper viewership decline than reported, often overlooking Nielsen's updated "Big Data + Panel" methodology, which incorporates more comprehensive out-of-home and co-viewing data for a more accurate count. This has fueled debates about measurement accuracy, but the event's cultural impact remains undeniable, highlighting ongoing tensions around diversity in American entertainment.

On social media, conservatives have been sharing a graph from Samba TV with mockery claiming that Bad Bunny was a failure and that their culture war is winning.  This is far from the truth if we look at the data and timestamps.  

Why the Samba TV Graph Is Inaccurate

The image provided MAGA and others claims to show a major dip in viewership during halftime, implying that the Bad Bunny halftime show caused a drop.

This is directly contradicted by official Nielsen Big Data + Panel ratings, which are the industry standard and were reported consistently across major outlets.

Below is the factual timeline based on Nielsen‑verified reporting.

The peak happened before 8:15 PM.

Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show Was Only 13 Minutes and began at 8:00 PM.

Bad Bunny’s actual performance length was 13 minutes shorter than previous years.

Because the show was short (13 mins) and the halftime was at 8:00 PM, the 8:00–8:15 PM window was still part of the 137M peak period, not the dip.

The Nielson report states:

The halftime show featuring Bad Bunny averaged 128.2 million viewers between 8:15-8:30 p.m. ET. Across the entire telecast, viewership peaked at 137.8 million viewers during the second quarter (7:45-8:00 p.m. ET).

Note the use of the word "averaged."  The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as "an estimation of or approximation to an arithmetic mean."   This is an estimation of the current trend, not an exact measurement.  An average (specifically, the arithmetic mean) is an exact mathematical calculation representing the sum of values divided by the count, but it is not necessarily an exact reflection of every individual data point.  

So, according to the data, the halftime show was part of the peak of 137 million and dipped after 8:15 PM, two minutes after the halftime show ended or was ending. Other factors show evidence that many were viewing.  According to NYC water, people held off on using the facilities until the Bad Bunny halftime show was over.  

NYC saw a significant reduction in water usage throughout the five boroughs during the Super Bowl’s #BadBunny halftime show yesterday, but in the 15 minutes right after the show ended, there was a spike in usage equivalent to 761,719 toilets flushing across town.#SBLX

— NYC Water (@NYCWater) February 9, 2026

So a recap:

Peak viewership: 137.8–137.9 million viewers from 7:45–8:00 p.m. ET (end of Q2, as halftime began).

Peak at Halftime Start (7:45–8:00 p.m. ET): 137.8 million.

This surge happened as halftime began, with viewers tuning in for Bad Bunny. Since the performance kicked off at 8:00 p.m. ET and was 13 mins (within the halftime window), this peak is directly attributed to the show.

Bad Bunny's peak of 137.8M, is explicitly tied to halftime anticipation, makes it the #1 most-viewed halftime in peak terms—proving unprecedented draw. Plus, it shattered other records: 4 billion social views in 24 hours (+137% from last year) and Telemundo's all-time high of 4.8M during the set. 

MAGA and conservative critics often cite niche data like Samba TV (26.5M households for halftime vs. 48.6M for game) to claim "half turned off," but that's a limited smart-TV sample—not the full Nielsen picture. They ignore the peak surge for Bad Bunny, the first all-Spanish halftime, which celebrated Puerto Rican culture amid political backlash (e.g., Trump's "disgusting" tweet). 

 

Game peak (137.9M) was highest ever; social views (4B in 24 hours) shattered prior marks by 137%; Telemundo peak (4.8M) set Spanish-language records.

Alternatives like TPUSA's show drew ~6M live viewers—a tiny fraction. 

The data substantiates that Bad Bunny's performance drew the largest peak audience ever, with the shorter set capturing that high right from the start. It wasn't just a show—it was a record-breaking cultural triumph that outdrew all others in key metrics. The "flop" narrative is agenda-driven fiction.

Therefore, Bad Bunny's halftime show still broke records and is number 1 per the date and timing.    Ironically, MAGA and their ilk love to point at others claiming "fake news," but they are the ones propagating it online.  

Source:

Super Bowl LX Delivers 124.9 Million Viewers | Nielsen

Median vs Average - Know the Difference Between Them

3.2: Averages (What Is Typical?) - Mathematics LibreTexts

arithmetic - Is the average of the averages equal to the average of all the numbers originally averaged? -

 Mathematics Stack Exchange

arithmetic - Is the average of the averages equal to the average of all the numbers originally averaged? - Mathematics Stack Exchange

Even the 'Puppy Bowl' drew more viewers than TPUSA’s halftime show

Bad Bunny’s Halftime Show changed New Yorkers’ water use – NBC New York