Disney+ Australia and New Zealand has attracted a record viewership of its ESPN livestream of the NFL Super Bowl this week, Variety Australia can exclusively reveal.
The game, played between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, is the most watched live sport event for Disney+ ANZ by hours streamed since ESPN launched on the platform in March last year, which includes last year’s NBA Finals.
Per Telsyte, Disney+ has 3.3 million subscribers in Australia alone as of October 2025.
“We’re thrilled to see fans enjoying live sports on Disney+, which is the home of great storytelling and great sport,” Walt Disney Company Senior Vice President and Managing Director for ANZ and Head of ESPN Asia Pacific, Kylie Watson-Wheeler, said.
“ESPN’s live sport is proving to be a major driver of engagement on Disney+, with thousands of live events and an unmatched depth of content across dozens of sports and leagues.
“This blockbuster Super Bowl viewership is the perfect demonstration of ESPN being the go-to destination for Aussies and Kiwis to watch the sporting events and cultural moments that simply can’t be missed.”
This year was the first time the Super Bowl and localised studio programming was available on ESPN on Disney+ in Australia and New Zealand.
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Meanwhile, NBC‘s, Peacock’s and Telemundo’s simulcast of the Super Bowl in the US reached an average 124.9 million viewers.
NBC reported that viewership peaked during the second quarter of the game (7:45 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET) with an average of 137.8 million viewers — making it the highest peak viewership in U.S. TV history. It also repped the most-watched TV broadcast in the history of NBCUniversal.
Bad Bunny‘s halftime show — or the “Benito Bowl,” as it was affectionally named by his fans — reached an average of 128.2 million viewers on Sunday.
Measured by Nielsen, that’s above the 124.9 million average viewers achieved by this year’s Super Bowl overall but down from the 133.5 million viewers achieved by Kendrick Lamar, who set the record last year. Before Lamar, the record was held by Usher for his 2024 performance.