The Seattle Seahawks bested the New England Patriots, claiming their second Super Bowl title, in a game that could have ended in a lot more lopsided scoreline than the eventual 29–13 at Super Bowl LX last Sunday.
However, outside the field, there was another clash taking place: a cultural one about the halftime show.
Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton singer Bad Bunny was slated to be the headline act for the big event. Given his previous statements about the American immigration enforcement agency ICE, coupled with his habit of occasionally wearing women’s dresses at photoshoots or live performances, the choice of Bad Bunny as the halftime performer by the NFL angered many Americans on the right.
So much so that the conservative advocacy group and think tank Turning Point USA, the late Charlie Kirk’s organization, decided to stage an alternative halftime show that discontented viewers could watch in protest.
The TPSU show, headlined by Trump-supporting music star Kid Rock, was certainly a success. Its peak concurrent viewership reached 6.1 million on YouTube alone, tied for second place among the most-viewed live streams in the site’s history.
However, amidst all that ‘drama’, how did the Super Bowl’s TV ratings turn out?
Super Bowl LX Ratings Drop from Year Before
Super Bowl LX was viewed by 124.9 million viewers on Sunday, 8 February, the premier media research company Nielsen has announced. That is a drop of 2.8 million viewers compared to last year, when 127.7 million people tuned in to watch the Philadelphia Eagles beat the defending champions Kansas City Chiefs.
As for Bad Bunny’s half-time concert, the audience actually increased compared to the game, per se. However, that is not as good news as it sounds at first for the liberals in America: this is in line with the typical trend.
Last year, Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show was viewed by 133.5 million people. Meanwhile, Bad Bunny’s performance scored 128.2 million viewers, which amounts to a drop of 5.3 million from last year.
Another telling sign that the halftime show did not go as well as expected for Bad Bunny is his Spotify streams.
As of writing this, he has 97.85 million monthly listeners on the primary music streaming platform. That is far behind the currently most-streamed artist on the site, Bruno Mars, with 134 million monthly listeners, who got a big boost from his chart-topping new hit single I Just Might.
Keep in mind that Super Bowl halftime headliners actually do not get paid for their performance, as the increase in streams, radio plays, future ticket sales, and record sales that such a monumental venue brings to the artist is expected to dwarf any one-time fee they might get for their show.
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