While linear TV ratings have cratered across the board, the Super Bowl has done the unthinkable: it’s actually increasing in viewership. The Big Game grew to the event’s biggest audience ever the last three years in a row, and with 2026’s game coming up on Sunday, all eyes are on whether it can keep that record-breaking streak going.

The TV landscape had already fragmented by the time the 2024 Super Bowl set a new viewership record with 123.7 million viewers tuning in to matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, rising 7.47% from the 115.1 million viewers brought in by the 2023 Chiefs-Philadelphia Eagles game, which, at the time, marked the event’s biggest audience in six years. 

By the next year, Super Bowl LVIII broke its previous record as it reached 127.7 million viewers for the latest Chiefs-Eagles game. Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 halftime show also set a new record as the most-watched Super Bowl halftime performance in history with 133.5 million viewers, rising 3% from the 129.3 million viewers that tuned into Usher’s halftime show the previous year.

Recent viewership trends offer optimism that the 2026 Super Bowl will grow on its record once again, with VideoAmp chief revenue officer Bryan Goski noting that people are watching live events now “more than ever.” He noted that the fragmentation of viewing across linear and streaming platforms creates a perception that overall viewing is down without accounting for viewing habits across the board.

Last year’s Super Bowl offered a free streaming option for viewers through Tubi, which live streamed the game for free for the first time as Fox aired it on linear. But this year doesn’t have a FAST component, with the New England Patriots-Seattle Seahawks game set to air on NBC, Peacock, NFL+ and NBCUniversal-owned Spanish-language channels Telemundo and Universo. This limits the accessibility of the game for viewers without cable or streaming subscriptions, the latter of which favors younger demos.

Indeed, if you want to watch this year’s Super Bowl on Peacock, you’ll have to sign up for a $10.99 per month or $109.99 per year plan.

Though NBCUniversal owns plenty of FAST channels, the move to make Peacock the Super Bowl’s sole streaming home is part of the Comcast-owned company’s effort to drive subscriptions to its platform ahead of both the NBA All-Star game on Feb. 15 and the Winter Olympics, which kick off Friday and run through Feb. 22.

“You’re going to use these big, must-watch events, à la love the Super Bowl, to move toward the streaming platform, which is everyone’s strategy,” Goski told TheWrap, pointing to the decline of linear TV and the emergence of streaming, but still noting the linear should not be underestimated as it brings in solid viewership for the game. “How are you as NBCU using that as a means to get more adoption of the Peacock platform, which is the strategic future of the business?”

Additionally, methodologies to measure viewership have shifted slightly, with Sunday’s game marking the first Super Bowl since Nielsen’s new big data + panel measurement system rolled out this fall. The new system combines existing panel with data from cable, satellite set-top boxes and smart TVs across 45 million households and 75 million devices through the company’s partnership with big data partners like Roku, Comcast, Dish, Vizio, and DirecTV and also incorporates first-party data from participating streaming services for live events.

While Nielsen’s out-of-home expansion has been cited for year-over-year ratings gains this football season, the expansion had rolled out by the time of last year’s Super Bowl, so this year’s game shouldn’t be too impacted there. The company is also launching a new pilot program to more accurately count co-viewing, though those results won’t be available for a few weeks, per Nielsen.

Viewership for Super Bowl LX of course depends on the interest in the specific teams, as the New England Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks, as well as the trajectory of the game (a close last quarter might make all the difference).

Sunday’s game marks the first Super Bowl in three years that won’t feature the Kansas City Chiefs, whose association with Taylor Swift via fiancé Travis Kelce undeniably boosted ratings for the team’s games. But Goski doesn’t believe the lack of a “Swift Cam” will impact this year’s ratings.

“Things like the Taylor Swift effect are interesting spikes for certain games … but I don’t think it’s going to have a dramatic change of viewership, because you have such a loyal fanbase in the NFL that just wants to watch,” Goski said.

As for the halftime show, anticipation has been mounting for Bad Bunny’s performance after the Feb. 1 Grammys saw host Trevor Noah try to get the reggaeton artist to break his contract by singing a few bars at the ceremony. He didn’t, though his win for album of the year — the first time a Spanish-language album won the accolade — as well as his anti-ICE speech only generated more buzz ahead of the spotlight performance. 

Turning Point USA is set to air an alternative “All-American Halftime Show” featuring Kid Rock, Brantley Gilbert and more across Turning Point USA’s X and Rumble, as well as the Daily Wire and Trinity Broadcasting Network, though it’s still to be seen if it will pose any meaningful competition to the Super Bowl show.

Stay tuned next week to see how the numbers shape up. Now, on to the rest of this week’s ratings highlights.

ABC sees ratings wins for “American Idol,” “High Potential” and “The Rookie”

ABC has seen notable ratings wins with its spring slate, with the season premiere of “American Idol” bringing in 8.27 million viewers after three days of viewing on ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms, rising 20% over the last season premiere and marking the show’s strongest premiere in four years.

The network also saw impressive viewership for its Tuesday lineup as “High Potential” nabbed 9.07 million viewers in its first week of multiplatform viewing, marking the best seven-day linear performance for an ABC scripted show in over five years, since “Grey’s Anatomy” in November 2020. Additionally, “The Rookie” scored its best performance among total viewers over five years with 9.65 million viewers after one week.

NHL Stadium Series scores most-watched regular season game ever on cable

Sunday’s Bruins-Lightning match averaged 2.1 million viewers, rising 30% over last year’s Stadium Series to become the most-watched regular season game ever on cable. Through 22 games, the NHL on ESPN networks is averaging 795K viewers, up 39% year-over-year.

ESPN scores second most-watched month in 30 years

The network closed out January as ESPN’s No. 2 most-watched month in 30 years, dating back to 1996 as well as its No. 1 month in over a decade, since January 2015. The channel averaged 1.7 million viewers, up 12% from January 2025.

ICYMI

• The 2026 Grammys dipped 6.4% from last year as it scored 14.4 million viewers across CBS and Paramount+
• “Bridgerton” Season 4, Part 1 debuted to 39.7 million views in its first four days on Netflix, marking a slight downtick from the Season 3 premiere, which earned 45.1 million views
• “The Rip” was Netflix’s top movie for the third week in a row with 14.6 million views during the week of Jan. 26