Almost 1m Aussies tuned into the Super Bowl halftime show

Will the viewer numbers for Super Bowl LVI and its halftime spectacle finally change Australian TV executives’ perceptions about hip hop’s pulling power?

According to Seven Network, its broadcast reached 1.87 million people nationally, and recorded its biggest audience since 2016.

7plus’ livestream smashed the previous audience record set in 2021, up 45% year-on-year with 11.04 million minutes streamed.

The average total audience of the Los Angeles Rams’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals had an average national audience of 583,000, including 49,000 viewers on streaming service 7plus.

The halftime entertainment peaked at 977,000 people watching on television.

This indicates the high level of interest in Dr. Dre’s headlining show which included Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and a surprise appearance from 50 Cent who swung down from the ceiling of the set.

There were 49,000 livestreaming viewers on 7Plus but Seven’s figures do not show what they were for the half time star power.

How many Australians just tuned in for the music, and then tuned out, as happened in the United States where 117 million watched?

Samba TV reported that 29 million US households eye-balled the half time, a jump of 19% over 2021 when the Weeknd headlined.

“It shattered last year’s half time audience, drawing in millions of more viewers across both linear television and streaming,” said Cole Strain, head of measurement at Samba TV.

Samba TV’s measurement system found that the households who tuned into the broadcast just for the hip hop was way up from last year.

More significantly, the ones who tuned in at half time and then clicked away before the third quarter of the game began rose 60% from 2021.

Households who tuned in at half time and stayed to watch the rest of the game were up 41% year on year.

“No matter how you look at it, the halftime show scored big for the NFL,” Strain added.

Two things stood out. The old schoolers showed everyone they still had the juice.

The half-time video was viewed more than 20.6 million times on YouTube 12 hours after, generating 75,000 comments.

You can watch it again here.