How did TV ratings and streaming numbers change during the 2026 halftime alternatives?

1. Alternative drew millions online but not close to Super Bowl scale

Live tallies and early reports put TPUSA’s Kid Rock‑led alternative in the mid‑single‑digit millions at peak concurrent viewership — about 5.7 million per one report and up to 6.1 million per others — primarily via YouTube and other streamed outlets ^{[1] [2] [5]}. Those numbers are notable in the context of online livestreaming, yet they still amount to only a small slice compared with the Super Bowl’s typical audience: the game and official halftime have routinely exceeded 100 million viewers in recent years and industry projections for the 2026 broadcast anticipated roughly 100–128 million across TV and streaming ^{[3] [4] [6]}.

2. Official Bad Bunny halftime totals not yet published in cited reporting

Multiple outlets emphasized that final, audited viewership for Bad Bunny’s halftime performance had not been released at the time of reporting, leaving comparisons partly provisional and based on historical baselines and network projections rather than an exact head‑to‑head tally ^{[1] [4]}. Contextual comparisons rely on the Super Bowl’s well‑documented past peaks — Kendrick Lamar’s 133.5 million last year stands as the recent benchmark for halftime viewership — and on network expectations that the official broadcast would outdraw counterprogramming ^{[7] [8]}.

3. Network and industry expected minimal ratings disruption from counterprogramming

NBC and industry analysts did not forecast a material hit to Super Bowl ratings from the conservative alternative: networks sold Super Bowl advertising at record rates ahead of the game and publicly downplayed the likelihood that an online conservative stream would dent the main broadcast’s massive reach ^[9]. Analysts also noted that the fragmentation of viewing across linear and streaming platforms can create a perception of decline that masks stable or growing total audience when digital platforms are accounted for ^[8].

4. Streaming growth complicates measuring impact and audience fragmentation

The rise of streaming and multiplatform consumption means audience totals are now the sum of linear TV, platform‑specific streams (Peacock, NFL+), and out‑of‑home viewing, a shift outlets cite when projecting the Super Bowl’s continued ability to top 100 million viewers even as individual platform numbers fragment ^{[10] [6]}. This environment both enabled TPUSA to reach millions quickly online and made it harder to claim a simple one‑to‑one erosion of TV ratings without final consolidated metrics ^[8].

5. Historical precedent and political framing mattered more than raw ratings shift

Commentators compared the 2026 counterprogramming to rare past effective challenges — notably Fox’s 1992 “In Living Color” stunt — to argue that true halftime disruption is difficult and historically exceptional, not routine ^[9]. The TPUSA show was as much a political statement aimed at conservative viewers as it was ratings competition, and several reports framed its role as an ideological alternative rather than a commercial challenger to NBC’s halftime slot ^{[9] [2]}.

6. Bottom line: measurable online lift for alternatives, limited displacement of the main audience

Early, platform‑specific counts show the TPUSA stream captured millions online, demonstrating that politically motivated counterprogramming can aggregate a sizable digital audience quickly, but the available reporting indicates those viewers did not approach the scale of the Super Bowl broadcast and its halftime viewership — which, while final Bad Bunny numbers were pending in these sources, was expected to remain an order of magnitude larger ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}. Absent consolidated, audited totals for every platform, claims about major ratings erosion of the main telecast remain unsupported by the cited reporting ^{[1] [4]}.