Turning Point USA’s All-American Halftime Show blew past expectations, drawing at least 10 million live views on streaming platforms as fans tuned in Sunday to watch the alternative to the NFL’s Super Bowl extravaganza.
Turning Point spokesperson Andrew Kolvet said initial numbers showed the concert starring country-metal rocker Kid Rock with 10 million concurrent streaming views across all channels, including a peak 6.1 million views on the conservative group’s YouTube channel.
That doesn’t factor in the counts from Turning Point’s broadcast partners such as National News Desk or cable outlets, including Real America’s Voice.
If those figures hold up, it would make the show the second most-watched live entertainment program in terms of concurrent views in YouTube history, he said.
“We put up huge numbers on Sunday evening. Huge numbers. They’re bigger than I thought, actually,” Mr. Kolvet said Tuesday on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” the podcast named for the organization’s slain founder.
“It’s going to end up being, let’s just say 50 million. It might be higher, it might be a little less, but it’s going to be approximately 50 million,” he said. “That’s a huge, huge deal.”
The 30-minute concert-style show drew about 25 million views across streaming platforms as of Monday night, he said, driven by 20.5 million views on YouTube as of Monday night and 2.26 million views on Rumble.
The show did better than anticipated, even though plans to stream the show on X fell through due to licensing restrictions.
Mr. Kolvet said the halftime counter-programming, which now has more than 21 million views on YouTube, represents a “shot across the bow” to the media, advertisers and the NFL.
“There is a tectonic shift that happened [Sunday] night in the culture,” he said on Monday’s podcast. “I don’t think we fully appreciate what just happened, but it happened, and there’s no going back now. We just proved that you can take on the biggest entertainment media juggernaut in the country, and that you can make a serious, sizable dent.”
He also announced that Turning Point, the conservative campus group, has committed to putting on another alternative halftime show next year during Super Bowl LXI, which is scheduled to be held on Valentine’s Day 2027.
Turning Point decided to get into the halftime entertainment business in October after the NFL announced that its show would be headlined by Spanish-language rapper Bad Bunny, a critic of President Trump’s immigration-enforcement efforts.
The Turning Point show was headlined by Kid Rock, a Trump ally, and featured country music stars Brantley Gilbert, Lee Brice and Gabby Barrett.
The people have spoken. pic.twitter.com/XVOZGHYSq4
— Andrew Kolvet (@AndrewKolvet) February 10, 2026
Bad Bunny, the world’s most-streamed artist of 2025, had a bigger night. There was media speculation that he may have broken the audience record set last year by rapper Kendrick Lamar, who drew 133.5 million.
The Nielsen ratings for Super Bowl LX had not been released as of late Tuesday.
Given that the Turning Point show had to rely on streaming and far smaller media partners, the show’s popularity represents an “earth-shattering feat,” said conservative podcaster Benny Johnson.
“I think there are people panicking and screaming within the NFL right now,” said Mr. Johnson on “The Charlie Kirk Show.”
It’s also possible that both shows benefited from publicity surrounding the dueling halftime shows.
“I actually think a lot of people, probably because of the controversy, might have watched both,” Mr. Kolvet said.
Those congratulating Turning Point included Daily Wire podcaster Matt Walsh, who cheered the organization for taking a big swing that paid off.
“TPUSA just did something insane,” Mr. Walsh said on X. “They counter programed the Super Bowl. And it paid off with one of the biggest live streaming events of all time. This was a massive swing, a huge gamble, and they won. Really proud of them.”
The show opened with a host saying, “This one’s for you, Charlie,” referring to Kirk, who was assassinated last September while speaking at Utah Valley University.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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