The ratings for Sunday’s Super Bowl LX matchup between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are in, and the offensively challenged game fell short of last year’s all-time record.
As reported on Wednesday’s AM Update, an average of 124.9 million viewers tuned in across NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+, according to Nielsen. That fell short of the 127.7 million U.S. viewers who tuned in for the Philadelphia Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last year.
Even so, the game became the most-watched program in NBC history, and, when viewership peaked in the second quarter at 137.8 million, it set the record for highest peak viewership in history.
The Halftime Controversy
The dip in viewership also carried over to Bad Bunny’s highly promoted halftime show. The mostly Spanish performance did not surpass last year’s audience, averaging 128.2 million viewers. That was short of rapper Kendrick Lamar’s record-setting performance that netted 133.5 million views in Super Bowl LIX.
The discrepancy was no doubt impacted by Turning Point USA’s “All-American Halftime Show,” which streamed across YouTube and Rumble and featured performances by Kid Rock, Lee Brice, Gabby Barrett, and Brantley Gilbert. It also included a tribute to the late TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk. The counter-programming had 6.1 million concurrent views.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan Uncensored Monday, Megyn called the selection of Bad Bunny, who is not shy about voicing his political beliefs, “too divisive” for a program that is supposed to bring people together.
“This is supposed to be a unifying event for the country – not for the Latinos, not for one small group, but for the country,” Megyn explained. “We don’t need a ‘Black National Anthem,’ we don’t need a Spanish-speaking… performer, and we don’t need an ICE- or America-hater featured as our primetime entertainment.”
That is why, in her view, the TPUSA show was such a success. “That is why you had probably closer to 10 million people turning the channel and turning to the Turning Point event, which was pro-American, which was absolutely beautiful, which had several references to God and faith and this country, which had a tribute to Charlie Kirk at the end of it and talked about Jesus and how he can change your life,” Megyn added. “That is what America is all about.”
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