Jennifer Lopez and Shakira Provide Super Bowl Halftime Show Ratings Boost

By Will Thorne

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Jennifer Lopez and Shakira dazzled the crowd in Miami and everyone watching at home during their Super Bowl Halftime Show performance on Sunday.

Their 15-minute set drew a sizable 103 million total viewers on Fox, which is up 4% or roughly 3 million on last year’s Maroon 5-fronted affair. J Lo and not only celebrated Latinx culture in terms of history and artistry through their singing and dance moves, but the pair also infused several political elements into their performance. Many called it a much needed energy boost from Maroon 5’s performance which Variety‘s Chris Willman called “every bit as thrilling as the game itself” (a drab 13-3 win for the New England Patriots over the Los Angeles Rams).

However, like for the overall game itself, the numbers for Sunday’s Halftime Show didn’t quite match those from 2018 and 2017. The 2018 show, which saw Justin Timberlake take to the stage in Minnesota, drew 106.6 million total viewers, a 4% better tally than this year’s show.

None of the performances from the last three years come close to the 2017 Halftime Show with Lady Gaga, which scored just 117.5 million total viewers for Fox. Lady Gaga falling spectacularly from the rooftop of NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas drew roughly 12% more viewers than this year’s performance on the same network.

The viewership bump provided by J Lo and Shakira was substantially greater than the Super Bowl’s overall increase year-to-year. Sunday’s game, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs emerge victorious over the San Francisco 49ers 31-20, drew 102 million viewers across all Fox’s platforms, up just over 1 million viewers on the 2019 broadcast on CBS.