Two milestones helped Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks deliver strong viewership. The 50th edition of the special held on America’s 250th anniversary amassed 11.2 million viewers across multiple telecasts and platforms (NBC, Peacock and Telemundo), NBC said Sunday, citing preliminary Nielsen data.
The network did not release viewership last year, when the special was simulcast on NBCUniversal sibling Telemundo for the first time. According to the company, the special was up 59% in total viewers and 96% in the 18-49 demo from 2025, which would peg the total viewership last year at around 7 million.
In addition to the 8 PM main telecast and 10 PM rebroadcast on NBC, the network added a late-night 11:30 PM repeat this year for the first time, which is part of the 2026 viewership cume. In its original 8-10 PM airing on NBC, the fireworks drew 5.1 million viewers, which was up 42% from last year and the best since 2019; on Peacock, the hours watched were up 140% vs. 2025, per the network.
In 2024, the special drew 7.6 million viewers across two telecasts on NBC as well as Peacock.
According to NBCU, this is 4th of July Fireworks‘ largest viewership since 2018 when it only aired on NBC.
Last night’s event featured performances by Noah Kahan, Post Malone, Salt-N-Pepa, Bebe Rexha, Shaboozey and Blake Shelton. The celebration included more than 85,000 shells in 30 colors – paired with a laser show from the Brooklyn Bridge.
Produced by Grammy Award-winning composer Jason Howland, the 27-minute score featured a live performance by NBC’s The Voice Season 29 winner Alexia Jayy.
The Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks telecast is produced for NBC by Jesse Collins Entertainment with Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay executive producing and with Macy’s Studios and Universal Television.
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