NBC has officially announced that Sunday’s Super Bowl LX matchup between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks averaged 124.9 million viewers, making it the second-most-watched Super Bowl in history.
The figure trails only last year’s Super Bowl 59 contest between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, which drew 127.7 million viewers.
The championship broadcast aired across multiple platforms, including NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL+.
According to official live and same-day figures from Nielsen, released Tuesday, the numbers represent one of the most comprehensive cross-platform measurements in league history.
This year’s data carries additional significance. Nielsen confirmed that Super Bowl LX marked the first championship game to be measured using its “Big Data + Panel” methodology, a system officially rolled out in September.
The measurement model, according to Nielsen, “provides the most-accurate TV measurement to date,” combining large-scale viewing data with traditional panel-based sampling for enhanced precision.
Record-setting milestones for NBC
For NBCUniversal, the broadcast set internal benchmarks. In a company news release, NBC described the telecast as “the most-watched show in the history of NBCUniversal.” Beyond the overall average audience, the game also reached a historic peak.
According to the network, 137.8 million viewers tuned in during the second quarter alone, marking “the highest peak viewership in U.S. TV history.”
That figure represents an all-time media record, underscoring the continued dominance of the Super Bowl as a live television event in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
Despite those accomplishments, the broadcast fell short of surpassing last year’s overall record. Super Bowl 59, carried by Fox, FOX Deportes, and Telemundo with streaming on Tubi, remains the most-watched edition in league history.
Still, executives at NBC Sports framed the event as a resounding success, particularly given its timing alongside coverage of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
“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 Hispanic influence
The Spanish-language audience also reached new heights. Super Bowl LX became the most-watched Super Bowl in U.S. Spanish-language history, averaging 3.3 million viewers on Telemundo, according to Nielsen.
Entertainment programming further boosted engagement. The Apple Music Super Bowl halftime show, headlined by Bad Bunny, averaged 128.2 million viewers between 20:15 and 20:30 ET / 17:15 and 17:30 PT. Final global viewership totals for the performance are expected to be released next week.
Beyond television, the event set new engagement benchmarks for the NFL across social media platforms, a surge widely attributed to Bad Bunny‘s global fan base and cross-cultural appeal.
As linear television continues to face long-term headwinds, Super Bowl LX reinforced the idea that the Super Bowl remains unmatched in its ability to aggregate mass audiences in real time.
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