In recent years, the Super Bowl has been watched by more than 100 million people with the Super Bowl Halftime Show sometimes reaching higher viewership than the NFL game being played. A conservative media outlet could disrupt viewership for the halftime show for Super Bowl LX.
Turning Point Plans Alternative Broadcast
Conservative organization Turning Point USA, founded by the late Charlie Kirk, plans to offer an alternative broadcast of the Super Bowl LX Halftime Show in February.
Labeled the "All American Halftime Show," Turning Point will provide a broadcast that is a protest of the NFL's decision to include Bad Bunny as the halftime performer for Super Bowl LX.
Bad Bunny, who is one of the most streamed artists globally on Spotify Technology SA (NYSE:SPOT), was born in Puerto Rico, which is an American territory.
Some conservatives have taken exception with Bad Bunny singing songs in Spanish, his opposition to President Donald Trump's immigration policies and in some cases, mislabeling him as not being American.
Turning Point said performers and more details will be announced soon, as reported by Variety. Those interested in watching Turning Point's alternate broadcast can take a survey from the company that asks which musical genres they would prefer to see. Among the options are "Hip Hop," "Americana," "Worship" and "Anything in English."
The organization has not announced if they will partner with a media company to offer the programming that launches opposite the broadcast of the game and halftime show on NBC, which is a unit of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA).
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the decision to have Bad Bunny perform the halftime show a "terrible decision" and suggested that musician Lee Greenwood, who gets 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify would be a better chance for a "broader audience." For comparison, Bad Bunny gets 80 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Bad Bunny recently hosted "Saturday Night Live" and poked fun at the backlash of his selection while also saying that people have four months to learn Spanish.
Comcast At Risk?
The media company that has the rights to the Super Bowl each year often gets a big win thanks to huge amounts paid for advertisements, huge viewership, the ability to boost its streaming platform and the chance to pick which content is aired directly after the game, which often sees strong carryover viewership.
Super Bowl LX, set for Feb. 8, 2026, is part of Comcast's big 2026 that kicks off with the rights to both the Super Bowl and the 2026 Winter Olympics, giving it a huge boost and the ability to get a reported $8 million for 30-second Super Bowl commercials and some companies locked in to also advertising during the Olympics.
Last year's Super Bowl (Super Bowl LIX) set a new record for viewership with an average of 127.7 million viewers during the game. The halftime show saw a spike in viewership, hitting an average of 133.5 million during Kendrick Lamar's performance. This marked the most-viewed Super Bowl halftime show ever.
The last three Super Bowl halftime shows from Kendrick Lamar, Usher and Rihanna, respectively, rank as the three most-viewed Super Bowl halftime shows ever, as reported by Billboard.
With a massive global fan base, picking Bad Bunny for the halftime show could be setting up Comcast for another viewership record. With Turning Point hoping to disrupt that, there could be some fear that Comcast will see a drop in viewers at halftime.
Past history shows that media outlets often run reruns against the Super Bowl and those who have tried to offer counterprogramming during the game and halftime show have had limited success.
Wrestling league WWF and media outlet MTV are examples of counterprogramming during past Super Bowls. In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD) network HBO aired a new episode of "Euphoria" while a Super Bowl was happening. The show received 5.1 million viewers, setting a series high at the time.
One of the most famous examples of counter Super Bowl programming was in 1992 when Fox aired a live "In Living Color" episode during halftime, believing more fans would watch. The episode captured 22 million viewers and led to the NFL booking more pop music acts for halftime going forward, changing its previous history of offering themed sports celebrations and performance by marching bands.
The Turning Point broadcast is unlikely to take too many viewers away from Super Bowl LX based on past history, but could be enough to keep Comcast from setting records. Given Bad Bunny's global fandom, Comcast could still set a record.
Read Next:
• Super Bowl Commercials 2025: Complete List of Super Bowl LIX Ads And Companies Behind Them
Photo: Shutterstock
© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
