NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE is Most-Watched Season Debut in 22 Years

With three days of time-shifting and video-on-demand viewership counted, the 42nd season debut of "Saturday Night Live" is now the show's most-watched premiere in 22 years.

In "live plus three day" results from Nielsen Media Research, the Oct. 1 season debut of "Saturday Night Live" is now averaging 11.788 million viewers, having added +3.491 million persons to the show's "live plus same day" result of 8.297 million reported by Nielsen Tuesday.

The telecast, hosted by Margot Robbie and featuring musical guest The Weeknd, as well as appearances by Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump and Larry David as Sen. Bernie Sanders, has delivered the highest viewer totals for any "SNL" season premiere, even counting L+7 time-shifted viewing, since the Sept. 24, 1994 opener hosted by Steve Martin with musical guest Eric Clapton (12.201 million). Note that Nielsen began measuring DVR viewership in December 2005 and the impact of usage prior to that was negligible.

In adults 18-49, the Oct. 1 edition has averaged a 3.64 rating in L+3 and is now the top-rated "Saturday Night Live" debut in eight years, dating back to the Sept. 13, 2008 season opener, hosted by Michael Phelps and featuring musical guest Lil Wayne as well as an appearance by Tina Fey as Gov. Sarah Palin, which averaged a 4.94 in L+7 adult 18-49 rating. Counting all telecasts, premieres and non-premieres, it's the top-rated "SNL" in L+3 18-49 rating in two and a half years (since Feb. 1, 2014, 3.95 in L+3 for Seth Meyers' last Weekend Update, with the telecast hosted by Melissa McCarthy and featuring musical guest Imagine Dragons).

The 3.64 represents a +56% jump versus the show's L+SD rating (2.34) after three days of time-shifting and video-on-demand usage.

To post a comment, you must register and login.