NFL Bad Bunny: Undecided Whale Explains it All
The ratings drop during the Super Bowl is more illustrative than political
Perhaps you’ve read, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show was a big, extravagant news cycle occurrence. I certainly read, rather than saw, because I was chasing my kids around at a Super Bowl party during halftime. I was aware of the performance to come, and its culture war valence, and didn’t miss it out of spite. It was just that no adult around me, all suburban Bay Area millennials, were all that keyed in on the affair. It’s not because these people were angry at the presence of the Spanish singing artist, or had a big issue with his anti ICE activism. No, nobody demanded that we fire up the competing TPUSA stream.
Instead, I’m fairly sure that our disinterest had a banal explanation: We didn’t know his songs. Of course, many people do know Bad Bunny’s songs. He’s incredibly popular outside, and even in pockets of the United States. But what’s true of my Super Bowl Party is probably true of most USA Super Bowl parties: We simply weren’t young enough, or Spanish speaking enough, to have a connection. Telemundo was the one broadcaster to see a viewership rise during the performance, but those viewers represent roughly 3 percent of the overall audience.
If you take a step back from the political proxy war over this halftime show and remove the Trump, Kid Rock, and Gavin Newsom elements, this all just makes sense: Viewers are more likely to watch halftime shows featuring artists they recognize, singing songs they’ve heard, in a language they speak. This shouldn’t be a controversial statement, indicative of some dug in ideological perspective. Had outspokenly anti-ICE Lady Gaga been a headliner, as opposed to a surprise guest at the Bad Bunny show, I’d bet big money that the millennial moms around me would have taken more interest. Hell, I would have too. I remember her hits from different points in my life and I’d be idly curious as to which song she starts with.
Based on the viewership data, finally pulled from the smoke and mirrors of ratings juiced hyped in trade publications, my anecdote might be reflective of a broader phenomenon.
From the TV Grim Reaper account that tracks TV viewership matters:
In the words of my friendly Nielsen source: The horrible second half viewership actually did an amazing job of disguising what was a complete viewership collapse for the half-time show.
Well obviously viewership dropped. There’s a bias against acknowledging this in some parts because we’re all locked in a constant PR battle for our causes. Many at mainstream outlets act like an admission of a drop then validates Trump and conservative claims that the public dislikes the metrosexual anti immigration enforcement man. And maybe some tuned out for that reason, but bottom line, again: People want to watch artists they’re familiar with. In 2026 America Bad Bunny isn’t 1993 Michael Jackson.
To my mind, the question then is: Why would the NFL hurt their own viewership numbers? I understand the argument that the performance did gaudy social media stats, but losing eight figures on the NBC feed is a pretty big sacrifice. So why?