Bad Bunny’s halftime performance at Super Bowl LX set a viewership record, despite an outcry from some over his selection.
“.@sanbenito Sets Global Viewership Record for Most-Watched Super Bowl Halftime Show Performance of All-Time #AppleMusicHalftime,” Roc Nation wrote via X on Monday, March 2, in a post shared by the NFL.
The post also included a graphic with further details. Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, drew a whopping 4.157 billion viewers worldwide between broadcast, YouTube and other digital properties in the first 24 hours, according to Roc Nation.
While that number doesn’t account for repeat viewers, 4.157 billion represents approximately half of the world’s population.
It is also an increase over the initial report of around 4 billion views, which was still a 137 percent increase over the previous halftime show. On the broadcast itself, Bad Bunny averaged 128.2 million viewers from 8:15-8:30 p.m. ET the night of the Super Bowl, a slight drop from Kendrick Lamar’s 133.5 million the year before.
Bad Bunny’s massive viewership numbers are made even more impressive by competing with Turning Point USA’s alternative halftime show, put together in response to Bad Bunny’s selection. In the first 24 hours, that show, which streamed live on YouTube, drew around 20 million views.
The backlash to Bad Bunny’s performance, which was entirely in Spanish and featured plenty of nods to his Puerto Rican heritage, continued after the Super Bowl ended.
Republican Congressman Andy Ogles demanded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigate the “National Football League and NBC immediately for their prior knowledge, deliberate approval, and facilitation of this indecent broadcast” in a post via X on February 9.
“American culture will not be mocked or corrupted without consequence,” Ogles, 54, continued.
He added, “Children were forced to endure explicit displays of gay sexual acts, women gyrating provocatively, and Bad Bunny shamelessly grabbing his crotch while dry-humping the air. And if that weren’t outrageous enough, the performance’s lyrics openly glorified sodomy and countless other unspeakable depravities. These flagrant, indecent acts are illegal to be displayed on public airways.”
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told Reuters just over a week later, that she reviewed the transcripts of the performance and that she found “no violation of our rules and no justification for harassing broadcasters over a standard live performance.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell defended Bad Bunny in October 2025 and stuck by the league’s decision.
“He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world,” Goodell, 66, told reporters. “That’s what we try to achieve. It’s an important stage for us. It’s an important element to the entertainment value, and it’s carefully thought through.”
