Turning Point USA’s quixotic attempt to challenge the NFL halftime show got off to a rough start Sunday night. But once their alternative concert got rolling against the NFL’s Bad Bunny, it posted impressive numbers.
That raises the question of whether TPUSA, or other challengers, will try to counter-program the Shield’s dominant halftime show in the future.
Things didn’t look great for the conservative group at first: Turning Point announced it would not be live-streaming “The All-American Halftime Show,” led by Kid Rock, on Elon Musk’s X/Twitter as it had planned.
“UPDATE: Due to licensing restrictions, we are unable to stream The All-American Halftime Show on X,” TPUSA tweeted just after 6 p.m. ET. “Head on over to our YouTube channel tonight around 8PM ET to watch the full show.”
That removed X/Twitter’s estimated 100 million U.S. viewers from the equation. But once the concert started on TPUSA’s YouTube channel, and other platforms, MAGA fans flocked to the show. To TPUSA’s credit, there were no technical glitches. Headliner Kid Rock opened the show with an acoustic version of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The other performers brought it, with Gabby Barrett a standout. As Reggie Jackson would say, TPUSA put asses in the seats.
As the Kid Rock took the stage, Turning Point’s YouTube Channel peaked at about 5.2 million concurrent live viewers, with a slight drop-off after his performance. It had more than 12 million views by the end of Super Bowl LX.
And that was just on one platform. “The All-American Halftime Show,” also aired live on smaller cable channels and streaming services such as Real America’s Voice, Charge!, DailyWire+, The National News Desk, and Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the biggest Christian TV network in the world. Official viewer numbers, including cable, will not be available until Monday at the earliest. But they’re expected to exceed expectations.
No contenders have seriously challenged the NFL’s halftime show since Fox’s In Living Color drew 20 million viewers in 1992. TPUSA’s conservative supporters hailed Sunday’s live show as a successful challenge to a “woke” NFL’s halftime hegemony.
“Five million YouTube viewers for Turning Point halftime right now. That’s a monster number for a live YouTube stream,” wrote OutKick founder Clay Travis on X/Twitter. Added Jason Whitlock on Twitter: “Kid Rock crushed it. The last song was awesome. Brantley Gilbert super talented. Just amazing.”
At the same time, Bad Bunny’s NFL halftime show is likely to draw well over 110 million viewers Sunday night, dwarfing TPUSA’s numbers. But in the end, both of the dueling halftime snows avoided politics.
You could argue the slain Charlie Kirk’s non-profit proved that online David’s can challenge the Goliath NFL on Super Bowl Sunday.
Will others follow next season?
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