Super Bowl 60 draws nearly 125 million viewers in slight dip from last year’s game

Super Bowl 60 was a ratings touchdown for NBC, with roughly 125 million people tuning in to watch the Seattle Seahawks prevail against the New England Patriots and Bad Bunny make history at the halftime show.

The match-up, as well as the halftime show, were broadcast on NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+. The viewership data is based on official live and same day Nielsen figures, which were announced on Tuesday. (NBC News shares its parent company, NBCUniversal, with NBC, Peacock, Telemundo and NBC Sports).

Nielsen said this was the first Super Bowl to be reported using its “Big Data + Panel” measurement methodology, which was officially rolled out in September 2025 and “provides the most-accurate TV measurement to date.

The sporting event set records for NBC, which said in a news release that it was “the most-watched show in the history of NBCUniversal.” Super Bowl 60 also “set an all-time media record”: 137.8 million viewers watched the second quarter, “marking the highest peak viewership in U.S. TV history,” NBC said in its release.

But the overall viewership numbers still fell short of surpassing last year’s record number. Super Bowl 59, which aired on Fox, FOX Deportes and Telemundo, and streamed on Tubi, drew in 127.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

NBC touted its numbers in its new release, highlighting how Sunday’s NFL game also coincided with continued Milan Cortina Winter Olympics coverage.

“The Super Bowl and the NFL once again delivered a blockbuster audience across the NBC broadcast network, Peacock, and Telemundo, and provided an unprecedented lead-in to our ‘Primetime in Milan’ coverage,” Rick Cordella, president of NBC Sports, said in a statement. “The Super Bowl and the Olympics are the two most powerful events in the world, and we salute our talented production, tech, and announce teams who delivered best-in-class presentations for our viewers, stations, and partners.”

The Super Bowl 60 telecast also became the most-watched Super Bowl in U.S. Spanish-language history, averaging 3.3 million viewers on Telemundo, according to Nielsen.

Apple Music’s Super Bowl halftime show featuring Bad Bunny averaged 128.2 million viewers between 8:15-8:30 p.m. ET, Nielsen said. Though full global viewership for the show will not be available until early next week.

The event also broke NFL records on social media, a feat that could likely be attributed to Bad Bunny.

“The top three most-viewed NFL social posts in history are now Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show clips,” NBC said in its release, pointing to its top Instagram posts from the evening.

The Puerto Rican star became the first Spanish-language Latin solo artist to headline the Super Bowl halftime show. Special guests Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga joined Bad Bunny in a show that paid tribute to his Puerto Rican roots, uplifted Latino culture and called for unity.

The National Football League has pushed to boost its international appeal and grow its global fan base in recen years.

During the 2026 season, regular season games were played in London, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich, Paris and Rio de Janeiro. The 2025 NFL International Games in Dublin, London, Berlin and Madrid averaged 6.2 million viewers on digital and broadcast for the NFL Network, making it the highest season viewership average for international games on record.