By Michaela Gordoni
The 2026 Puppy Bowl scored its highest numbers since 2018.
It tugged in over 15.3 million viewers across several stations: Animal Planet, Discovery, TBS, truTV, HBO Max and Discovery+. It had a 20% viewer increase from last year, Variety reported.
The three-hour telecast showcases puppies who are up for adoption. There were 150 dogs from 72 shelters across the states, British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The ratings were high among viewers ages 25 to 54 on TBS and truTV, which had increases of 11% and 104%, respectively, Deadline reported. There were 15 special needs dogs included this year.
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“This year’s Puppy Bowl delivered its strongest performance in nearly a decade, and its success across linear and streaming highlights our unique ability to unite audiences around content that feels good and does good,” said Joseph Boyle, head of content for Discovery Channel. “We’re grateful to bring viewers so much joy and are deeply proud of the purpose at the heart of this event.”
Meanwhile, the Super Bowl averaged less viewers than expected at 124.9 million, down 2% from 2025. The halftime show had 128.2 million viewers, which made it the fourth most-watched halftime show ever. Bad Bunny’s performance from the show reached 69 million views in two days on YouTube.
USA Today reported one of 2026’s Puppy Bowl stars, a disabled mini-Australian Shepherd named Tiegan, died a couple of months before the show aired due to aspiration pneumonia. Tiegan had cerebellar hypoplasia and used an assistive device to walk.
“Unfortunately, her body was not able to recover. I was told she would always have this issue, and we took every precaution we could,” said Trisha Malfitano, founder of Perfect Imperfections Rescue and Sanctuary. “She was held upright for feedings, burped, and then used the cart to stay off her side to make sure she had clear airways.”
Malfitano is still grateful that Tiegan had a chance to shine on the big screen.
“This was so exciting since we had never participated before,” she said. “Sharing my small rescue with people and the amazing dogs who pass through our doors gave me a different platform to show the world special needs dogs.”
“A few weeks after we had the taping we traveled to NY and participated in the Puppy Bowl. It was such a fun experience,” Malfitano said. “We meet so many incredible people from rescues all over the USA. Spending the day in a room full of puppies was an added bonus.”
This year’s Bowl is tinged with a little sadness, but the ratings indicate it was still a great year for puppies.
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