Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music is the gift that keeps giving for NBC.
After winning its timeslot in TV’s all-important 18-49 demo upon its premiere in late January, a rerun of the well-received documentary co-directed by Questlove and Oz Rodriguez this past Saturday managed to draw even more total viewers than its original airing.
According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data, Saturday’s re-airing of Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music drew 4,058,000 total viewers. That’s more than a half a million more than tuned into watch it when it premiered on January 27th.
As Vulture’s Josef Adalian (who first noted the doc’s strong performance in a social post) points out, “Even more amazing is, the special has been streaming for weeks on Peacock. Didn’t matter–people were in a mood for some SNL50 content, and they showed up.”
Saturday’s rerun of the three-hour documentary ended up serving as a centerpiece of sorts for what NBC billed as a “celebratory weekend” for Saturday Night Live‘s 50th, bookended by a live Friday night concert at Radio City and Sunday night’s anniversary special.
Following the documentary on Saturday night, NBC re-aired SNL‘s October 11, 1975 series premiere. According to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data, that broadcast drew 3,714,000 total viewers and a 13% share. Although that’s lower than new episodes of the show, it’s well above average for a repeat. (Last week’s encore of November’s Charli XCX episode drew 2,666,000 total viewers.)
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Ratings data © The Nielsen Company, used under license.
I checked it out after the Latenighter piece and I literally cannot remember the last time I sat through a TV show that long that wasn’t the NFL. That was a kickass documentary.