Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime show has officially broken Michael Jackson's record and becomes the most watched halftime of all time

[DaveyDave]

its obviously partly because of the bigger audience the Super Bowl has gained over the last 30 years. back in the early 90s there would have been a very small number of people outside of the US watching the Super Bowl and even less of those people would be foreigners. I watched it when I was a kid because we had a relatively big amount of Americans where I grew up because of the Space Base in the middle of Australia. but most kids I knew didn't watch it or care about it

 

[Nuuko]

"its obviously partly because of the bigger audience the Super Bowl has gained over the last 30 years"
still doesn't explain why only kendrick did it

 

[kidsinamerica_]

"its obviously partly because of the bigger audience the Super Bowl has gained over the last 30 years"
still doesn't explain why only kendrick did it

It’s not just about the Super Bowl’s audience growing. The real difference is Nielsen’s 2025 tracking update, which now includes 100% of out-of-home (OOH) viewership (bars, hotels, restaurants) and streaming (Tubi, NFL+). Past halftime shows weren’t measured this way.

If they had been, artists like MJ, Beyoncé, Prince, and Rihanna would likely have had much higher reported numbers too. So Kendrick didn’t break the record in a traditional sense—it’s more about how viewership is counted now.

 

[kidsinamerica_]

In short, Kendrick’s halftime show and the Super Bowl’s viewership were boosted by Nielsen’s new tracking system, first implemented this year. This is the first time 100% of out-of-home (OOH) viewing and streaming have been included.

 

[derro13]

"its obviously partly because of the bigger audience the Super Bowl has gained over the last 30 years"
still doesn't explain why only kendrick did it

tbh. First time since MJ a superbowl gets this much talk too. Kendrick is also crushing it on youtube.