New Viewership Data from Samba TV: Super Bowl LIX / Halftime Show

Super Bowl 2025

Super Bowl / Halftime Show Viewership:

• 37.1M U.S. households watched the 2025 Super Bowl. This is down 5% from the 2024 Super Bowl, which was the highest Super Bowl viewership seen in the past six years; however, this is closely in line with 2022 and 2023, outpacing those two years between 1%-2%. 
• 28.8M U.S. households watched Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show, down 4% from Usher’s performance during the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show. 311k U.S. households turned on the TV to only watch the Halftime Show (skipping the game) – 8% fewer viewers than did so for 2024’s Halftime Show with Usher. 
• There was a dramatic dropoff in viewership throughout the course of the game. The peak audience was seen during the Halftime Show, with the percentage of total viewership falling from 100% during the show to 70% at the end of the game. By comparison, last year’s game ended with 89% of the peak audience watching by the end of the game.
• The Super Bowl audience skewed towards white households (+5% compared to the U.S. overall). However, among households that only watched the halftime show, Black households were 25% more likely to watch (compared to the rest of the U.S.). For the game itself, Black households under-indexed by 6%.
• Looking at Super Bowl viewership across the top 25 DMAs (plus Kansas City), Pittsburgh over-indexed by the highest margin (+20%), followed by Boston (+14%), and Minneapolis (+13%). Notably, these big football cities outpaced both Kansas City (+11%) and Philadelphia (+9%). 

Ads Viewership:

• Nike was the most watched brand ad of the Super Bowl that aired nationally (outside of FOX, FOX-affiliated brands, and NFL), reaching 28.1M households, followed by the Novartis ad and the RAM ad (both of which reached around 28M households).

Comments attributed to Ashwin Navin, Co-Founder & CEO, Samba TV:

“Apple Music’s Halftime Show once again proved its star power, attracting 28.8 million American households, however coming in below last year’s Usher-led performance,” said Samba TV Co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin. “Despite viewership being down 4% from last year, its ability to draw in younger and more diverse audiences make it a can’t-miss spectacle.”

“Coming off of five Grammy wins, Kendrick Lamar took to the stage for Apple Music’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, drawing in 28.8 million households watching in total and 311k tuning in just for the Halftime Show,” said Samba TV Co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin. “Kendrick’s performance was a draw for younger viewers, with Gen Z households 9% more likely to watch only the show and skip the game itself.”

“Nike claimed the crown as this year’s top Super Bowl ad, captivating both die-hard fans and the quarter of Americans who tuned in just for the commercials,” said Samba TV Co-founder and CEO Ashwin Navin. “With over 28.1 million households reached, this ad didn’t just create buzz—it dominated the Super Bowl ad game.”

Top 10 Brands: