Half-Time Show Aims to Draw Millennial, Gen Zers

• 41% of self-identified fans of The Weeknd said they’re more likely to watch the Super Bowl this year compared to past years, while 37% of NFL fans said the same.
• The Weeknd was most popular among millennials (61%) and members of Generation Z (54%).

Half of NFL fans and two-thirds of Weeknd fans said it’s appropriate for halftime performers to promote social justice during their set, according to a poll from Morning Consult.

After dominating last year’s charts, The Weeknd is gearing up to headline Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show. And new polling finds that his performance will bring new eyeballs to the game and could expand the “Blinding Lights” singer’s fan base, although the attitudes of Weeknd fans differ from those of NFL fans in a few important ways. 

The Super Bowl halftime show, known for its special guests and buzzy moments, has long been seen as a way to draw new fans to the NFL’s biggest game.

But a Jan. 25-26 survey of 2,200 U.S. adults found that fans of The Weeknd are already likely fans of the NFL: 75 percent of the singer’s fans said they were fans of the NFL, while 45 percent of NFL fans said they also favored The Weeknd. Of the adults surveyed, 29 percent said they were fans of both the NFL and The Weeknd.

Fans of the Canadian singer, born Abel Tesfaye, are intuitively more likely to watch the Super Bowl for the halftime show (24 percent) than NFL fans (14 percent), and they’re also more likely to say they’ll throw a Super Bowl party this year. 

With many checking out the big game — more than 100 million people watched last year — artists have used the halftime performance to make political and social statements during polarized times in America.