First on LateNighter: Saturday Night Live drew 4.07 million total viewers and 791,000 adults 18–49 for its October 11 episode hosted by Amy Poehler with musical guest Role Model.
That’s according to Nielsen Live + Same Day data.
The numbers represent a 7.7% drop in total viewers and a 14.6% decline in the demo from last week’s Season 51 premiere (4.41 million viewers, 926,000 in 18–49).
This was SNL’s lowest 18–49 result since April, when Quinta Brunson hosted with musical guest Benson Boone, and its lowest total viewership since December 7, 2024, when Paul Mescal hosted with musical guest Shaboozey.
Expect all of these numbers to grow as delayed linear viewing data comes in over the coming days and weeks. (For example: per Nielsen, last week’s season premiere gained an additional 2 million total viewers in the three days following its broadcast, with the show’s Live +3 figures topping out at 6.3 million total viewers, while its numbers in the demo increased by nearly 50% to 1.4 million.)
It’s also worth noting that linear ratings are just one piece of the pie, especially among younger viewers. Live + Same Day data does not include live viewing on Peacock, nor does it take into account the show’s YouTube views, where this week’s cold open notched nearly 6 million views in its first 48 hours.
This week’s episode marked Poehler’s first time hosting in nearly a decade and featured several callbacks to her years on the cast. She reunited with Tina Fey in the cold open, playing Donald Trump’s attorney general Pam Bondi opposite Fey’s DHS secretary Kristi Noem. Later in the show, former Weekend Update co-anchors Fey and Poehler joined Poehler’s other Update partner, Seth Meyers, for a “joke off” against current anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che.
SNL returns this weekend with Sabrina Carpenter, who will be performing double duty as both host and musical guest.
Episode-by-episode Nielsen ratings charts for SNL‘s 51st season follow below:
Live+SD Ratings – All Viewers (P2+)
| Date | Host / Music Guest | Avg Viewers (000’s) | Avg Share % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/4/25 | Bad Bunny / Doja Cat | 4,405 | 14.42 |
| 10/11/25 | Amy Poehler / Role Model | 4,067 | 13.31 |
Live+SD Ratings – In the Demo (P18-49)
| Date | Host / Music Guest | Avg Viewers (000s) | Avg Share % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10/4/25 | Bad Bunny / Doja Cat | 926 | 13.78 |
| 10/11/25 | Amy Poehler / Role Model | 791 | 11.59 |
Ratings Data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
Deliver two unfunny episodes and you get lousy ratings.
The cast and writer turnover ain’t working yet.
Amy’s episode was pretty decent. The season premiere though, ughh. I haven’t seen such a boring premier since when Late Night with Jimmy Fallon started in 2009.
Mucky Boy doesn’t deserve respect
After the absolute snooze fest that was the season premiere, yeah, no surprise.
Amy Poehler is one of my favorite comedians. Her SNL hosting gig seemed uncharacteristic. Her usual energy, enthusiasm and creativity was missing. She didn’t seem excited to be there at all tbh. I hope everything is OK with her.
Why release this before all the data is in? You said yourself the numbers will go up. At a time when TV stars critical of Trump and his ilk are being harrassed, it’s not coincidence this article misleads with premature and incomplete data. This episode hilariously and quite popularly spoofed major Trump scum and the orange one can’t have that. Democracy is fired.
I don’t believe people knew it was back on for the season yet. We don’t watch a lot of AM tv so we didn’t see any announcements. We have ALWAYS loved SNL and adore Amy and now that we know it’s back will record and watch every week. Welcome back Amy. We love you and you will be a refreshing return to one of our all time favorite shows
Did you not see any of the promos??!!!
Because we tuned in for the season opener and Bad Bunny is such a bad host that we didn’t come back. I’m not sure what demographic SNL is shooting for but it’s not me. Given the state of politics I guess I should say, I don’t dislike Bad Bunny, and I think it’s brilliant to have him do the Superbowl halftime. I just don’t know anything about him other then that he was terrible twice on SNL now.