First on LateNighter: Saturday Night Live closed out a very strong pre-election run this weekend with its highest live-plus-same-day ratings in three and a half years.
Aided by a cameo from Kamala Harris (which was widely reported in the hours prior the show’s live broadcast) Saturday’s well-received episode featuring now six-time host and SNL alum John Mulaney and first-time musical guest Chappell Roan drew 6,586,000 total viewers to NBC, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That represents the show’s largest live-plus-same-day audience since the May 8, 2021 episode (7,390,000 viewers), which was hosted by Elon Musk and featured musical guest Miley Cyrus.
This weekend’s SNL gained 1,809,000 total viewers (or +38%) from the show’s most recent new episode — hosted by Michael Keaton with musical guest Billie Eilish. The episode also improved by 2,447,000 viewers (or +59%) over the year-ago SNL (Nov. 18, 2023), which was hosted by Jason Momoa and featured musical guest Tate McRae.
Among viewers in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic, this week’s SNL averaged 1,668,000 viewers 18-49, per Nielsen live-plus-same-day data. That’s up 722,000 viewers (or +76%) from the most recent new SNL, and up 841,000 viewers (or +102%) from the year-ago episode.
Note that all of the numbers above (for this week and past episodes for comparison) are same-day-plus-live measurements. Average episode viewership will increase once delayed-viewing Nielsen data arrives in the coming days.
Saturday Night Live returns this week, Nov. 9, with comedian Bill Burr as host, and Mk.gee as musical guest.
Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
