SEATTLE
While the Seattle Seahawks celebrated their Super Bowl victory Monday morning, another competition from Sunday night remained too close to call: the unofficial ratings battle between the NFL’s official halftime performer, Bad Bunny, and a rival show headlined by conservative rocker Kid Rock.
Official Nielsen ratings for Bad Bunny’s halftime show, which weaved a celebration of Puerto Rican culture into the biggest U.S. television event of the year, will be released Tuesday.
The main halftime broadcast typically draws well over 100 million viewers.
A competing performance was organized by the conservative group Turning Point USA. Spokesperson Andrew Kolvet told Fox News on Sunday that “at one point” roughly 10 million people were watching the Kid Rock simulcast across all social media platforms.
On Monday, the group declined to provide exact figures. YouTube’s public metrics showed its live stream of the event peaked at just under 5 million concurrent viewers.
The duel highlighted a cultural divide, pitting the NFL’s global pop spectacle against a deliberately counter-programmed event aimed at a different audience.
For now, each side claims a victory—one in tradition and scale, the other in digital reach and political statement—leaving the definitive viewership winner to be settled by the official numbers.
By James Kisoo
