For weeks, critics promised disaster. A Spanish-language halftime show would tank ratings. The boycott would work. Bad Bunny was too divisive for America’s biggest stage.
Then Sunday night happened. The receipts came in. And they did not say “disaster.” They said, “This is what winning looks like.”
The Ratings War: Not a Flop. A 128-Million-Viewer Flex.
Bad Bunny’s halftime show averaged 128.2 million viewers in the U.S., per Nielsen data released by NBC Sports. That’s not just a big number. It’s more than the game itself, which averaged 124.9 million. It also lands as the fourth-most-watched halftime show on record.
The “boycott” that was supposed to trend into tragedy ended up looking like what it usually is. Loud online, small in reality.
Turning Point USA’s counter-programmed “All-American Halftime Show,” headlined by Kid Rock and featuring Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice, and Gabby Barrett, peaked at about 6.1 million livestream viewers, with YouTube views climbing afterward. That is not nothing. It’s also not the main stage.
Chart by Wealth of Geeks. Sources: NBC Sports Press Box, PEOPLE (via NYT).
The Social Media Demolition
The NFL didn’t just win the broadcast. It won the replay.
NBC Sports reported the halftime show generated 4 billion social video views in 24 hours on NFL platforms, up 137% from last year.
The top three most-viewed NFL social posts ever are now all Bad Bunny clips, with a combined watch time NBC Sports framed as the equivalent of 115 years.
And the most viral moment was not a dance break. It was a message. NBC Sports said the “Only Thing More Powerful Than Hate is Love” moment hit 179 million views on Instagram, with 54% coming from outside the U.S.
Critics said nobody wanted this. The internet behaved like it couldn’t look away.
Graphic by Wealth of Geeks. Source: NBC Sports Press Box (Ripple Analytics figures as cited by NBC).
The Spanish-Language Proof
Telemundo averaged 3.3 million viewers, peaking at 4.8 million during halftime, which NBC Sports called the largest Spanish-language NFL game audience ever.
The NFL didn’t “hold” the audience by booking Bad Bunny. It broadened the room by expanding into a demographic that a section of the media spent weeks insisting doesn’t exist. And that demographic showed up in record numbers. And it wasn’t just a one-off curiosity spike. It was proof of habit, not novelty. Spanish-language viewership didn’t borrow the moment. It claimed it, and advertisers followed. The league noticed too.”
Chart by Wealth of Geeks. Source: NBC Sports Press Box.
The Goodell Doctrine: Money Over Mythology
Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, isn’t running a heritage museum. He’s running the most expensive attention machine in American life.
From a business standpoint, this is the only metric that matters. Brands were paying for eyeballs, and this year, eyeballs were so valuable that Super Bowl ad slots reached a record $10 million for 30 seconds, according to Reuters.
So when critics framed Bad Bunny as a risk, the NFL treated him like an expansion strategy.
Even Donald Trump’s reaction accidentally proved the point. He didn’t ignore the halftime show. He reacted to it, posting on Truth Social immediately after the performance to trash it as “one of the worst” and “a slap in the face.” The official show was still the show.
Credit: Donald J Trump/Truth Social
The Global Reach the Critics Can’t Dismiss
NBC Sports said 68% of views on the second-most-watched halftime clip came from outside the U.S.
And the streaming bump was immediate. Apple said Bad Bunny listening on Apple Music was up 7x right after halftime.
AP reporting based on Apple Music data added more detail. Bad Bunny landed 23 songs on Apple Music’s Daily Top 100 Global chart, his album charted in 155 countries, and hit No. 1 in 46.
This is what the NFL is selling now. Not “America’s league.” The world’s biggest weekly cultural export.
The Scoreboard That Matters
Whether you loved the performance or hated the message, the scoreboard is pretty blunt.
128.2 million U.S. viewers for the halftime show
124.9 million U.S. viewers for the game
4 billion social video views in 24 hours on NFL platforms
3.3 million Telemundo average, 4.8 million peak at halftime
$10 million for a 30-second ad slot
Apple Music listening up 7x, and chart domination the next day
TPUSA’s counter-show peaked around 6.1 million livestream viewers
The NFL took heat for booking Bad Bunny, and then reaped the rewards in ratings, replays, and global demand.
Goodell bet on the future. The future showed up.
The backlash didn’t vanish. It got outvoted. That’s the part the outrage economy hates: you can dominate a timeline and still lose the room. The NFL doesn’t need unanimous applause. It needs mass attention, and this is what mass attention looks like in 2026. Loud critics, bigger numbers, and a league that keeps getting paid.
Do these numbers change your view of the Bad Bunny controversy, or did the NFL just catch lightning in a bottle? Sound off below.