Super Bowl 2026: What 500+ Viewers Told Us About Ads, Streaming, and Attention in Real Time
At Crowd React Media, a division of Harker Bos Group, we surveyed over 500 Super Bowl viewers within 12 hours of the final whistle to capture real-time advertising recall, viewing behavior, and engagement with the game and halftime show.
Speed matters when measuring recall. By fielding immediately after the broadcast, we were able to see what truly stuck with audiences, and just as importantly, what didn’t, while the experience was still fresh. Those surveyed? We found that around 67% of audiences 18+ had tuned into the Super Bowl, highlighting what a unique event it is, in today’s fractured media landscape.
While the Super Bowl remains one of the most valuable advertising stages of the year, our findings highlight a growing challenge for advertisers: earning attention and memory in a fragmented, multitasking environment.
How Viewers Experienced the Super Bowl
Traditional television still led overall, with 53% watching via cable or satellite. However, streaming now represents a substantial share of Super Bowl viewing.
- 20% watched on Peacock
- 24% streamed via the NBC Sports App, YouTube TV, or their cable provider’s streaming app
The generational divide was clear. Among adults 18 to 34, only 42% watched on traditional TV, while 53% streamed the game. Among viewers 55 and older, 67% watched on TV and 31% streamed.
Where viewers watched also varied by age. Overall, 73% watched at home, 15% attended a party, and just 3% watched at a bar or restaurant. But among 18 to 34-year-olds, 26% watched at a party, compared to only 9% of viewers 55 and older.
Despite platform shifts, engagement with the game itself remained strong. Sixty percent watched the entire game from start to finish, and another 29% watched most of it. In total, nearly nine in ten viewers stayed with the broadcast for the majority of the game.
Advertising Recall: What Broke Through and What Didn’t
When viewers were asked, in an open-ended format, to recall Super Bowl ads they remembered seeing, overall brand recall was limited, even among this highly engaged audience surveyed within hours of the game ending.
Nearly a quarter of viewers (24%) were unable to recall a specific brand at all, instead describing a commercial without naming the advertiser. Another 12% explicitly said they did not remember any ads or had forgotten them entirely.
Among named brands, Budweiser led recall at 21% overall. However, recall varied sharply by age. While 34% of viewers 55 and older remembered Budweiser, only 18% of adults 18 to 34 did so, highlighting a strong generational skew.
Dunkin’ followed at 14% overall, performing slightly stronger among middle and older age groups than among younger viewers.
Pepsi Zero Sugar ranked next at 10% recall, standing out as one of the few ads that aligned both with strong creative buzz and measurable audience memory.
Other major advertisers saw much lower recall. Pringles registered at 8%, State Farm at 6%, Bud Light at 4%, and T-Mobile at 4%.
One especially telling result was the role of celebrity-driven advertising. Six percent of viewers could recall a celebrity from a commercial but were unable to name the brand or product associated with them, reinforcing that star power captured attention without consistently anchoring brand memory.
Taken together, the data underscores a core challenge of modern advertising: even on the biggest media stage of the year, many ads struggle to create clear, lasting brand associations.
Celebrity Recognition Without Brand Recall
One of the most consistent patterns in the open-ended responses was celebrity recall without brand recall.
Many viewers could name a celebrity they remembered seeing in a commercial, sometimes multiple celebrities, but could not connect that memory to the sponsoring brand or product. In these cases, responses included only the celebrity’s name, with no associated advertiser.
This suggests that while celebrities may capture attention in the moment, they do not automatically translate into brand memory, particularly in a cluttered advertising environment.
For advertisers, this distinction matters. Attention alone is not enough if the brand itself fails to anchor that attention.
Favorite Ads: Few Clear Winners
When viewers were asked to name their single favorite ad, results reinforced how difficult it is to stand out.
Budweiser ranked first at 18%, but that preference was heavily driven by viewers 55 and older. Only 7% of adults 18 to 34 named Budweiser as their favorite, compared to 32% of the 55+ audience.
Seventeen percent of viewers could not name a favorite ad at all.
Dunkin’ followed at 10%, again reflecting familiarity and celebrity appeal.
Even the most liked ads failed to resonate universally, underscoring the challenge of creating creative that works across generations.
The Role of Attention and Multitasking
A major factor shaping recall is divided attention.
More than half of viewers (51%) reported using social media while watching the game. Among adults 18 to 34, that figure rose to 79%. For viewers 35 to 54, it was 52%, and for viewers 55 and older, just 21%.
Instagram and TikTok dominated among younger viewers, with 56% and 46% respectively. Facebook and Instagram led overall usage.
One notable surprise was X. Despite its reputation as a real-time sports conversation platform, only 10% of viewers reported using X while watching the Super Bowl.
For advertisers investing millions in a single airing, this context matters. Ads are competing not just with other commercials, but with entirely separate screens and platforms, particularly among younger audiences.
Halftime: A Different Advertising Story
Bad Bunny’s halftime performance drew strong engagement overall, with 56% watching the entire show and another 23% watching parts of it. But again, age shaped behavior.
Sixty-nine percent of adults 18 to 34 watched the full performance, compared to 39% of viewers 55 and older. Adults 35 to 54 tracked much closer to the younger audience in engagement.
When asked to name the sponsor of the halftime show, 27% correctly recalled Apple Music. Among adults 18 to 34, recall climbed to 34%.
While 27% may appear modest, it was the strongest unaided brand recall measured in the entire study, outperforming all individual Super Bowl advertisers.
In a night marked by limited ad recall, halftime sponsorship emerged as the most effective branding moment, particularly among younger viewers who otherwise showed the weakest ad memory.
What This Means for Media and Advertisers
The Super Bowl remains a powerful cultural event, but the rules of attention have changed.
- Streaming is now central, not secondary
• Younger viewers are heavily multitasking
• Celebrity alone does not guarantee brand recall
• Creative acclaim does not equal audience memory
• Integrated brand moments may outperform traditional spots
For media companies, agencies, and brands, the takeaway is not that Super Bowl advertising no longer works. It is that success depends on clarity, brand linkage, and understanding how audiences actually experience the event.
Real-time research helps move the conversation from assumptions to evidence, and from creative buzz to measurable impact.
Results are based on a sample of 512 Super Bowl viewers and have a margin of error of approximately ±3.7 percentage points at the 90% confidence level.
