Four months before his Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny playfully challenged viewers to brush up on their Spanish. And after his vibrant homage to Puerto Rico, they did.
The artist made history as the first to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show entirely in Spanish, with a joyous spectacle that invited the world to dance to songs including “Tití Me Preguntó.”
During and post-show, Duolingo noted a 35% week-on-week increase in Spanish-language learners, after 140 million viewers tuned in to watch Benito perform.
“When something captures people’s attention, learning follows,” Duolingo CMO Manu Orssaud told ADWEEK. “The surge in Spanish learning during and after the halftime show shows the appetite is there—and that’s exactly why Duolingo exists: to turn moments of curiosity into real learning.”
Duolingo saw a 35% increase in Spanish learners last night.
Is this what a one-night stand feels like? pic.twitter.com/acf0DZczhh
— Duolingo (@duolingo) February 9, 2026
Data from another language learning app, Preply, found that within 24 hours of Bad Bunny being announced as the Super Bowl 60 halftime show performer in September, U.S. searches for “Spanish class” jumped 178%.
Preply has now forecast that 327,000 additional Americans will seek Spanish resources after the halftime show, with millions more turning to translations.
The language is already the second-most spoken in the U.S., with approximately 43 million people speaking it as their primary language.
Bad Bunny 101
Duolingo’s spike followed a two-week pregame campaign from the language-learning app, fronted by its unhinged owl mascot Duo, which encouraged its 50 million users to learn “Bad Bunny 101” ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.
TV ads showing Duo dressed as Bad Bunny in a suit jacket and pava hat aired during the AFC and NFC championship games. Social creative also refreshed in the countdown to the Big Game, with five-second reminder ads running during the Grammys. The push also included a New York City subway takeover.
