‘SNL50’ Ratings: Anniversary Special Hits 14.8 Million Viewers on NBC, More Than 200% Above Season Average

variety.com:

Selome Hailu NBC’s 50th anniversary special for “Saturday Night Live” hit a very strong 14.8 million viewers on average across NBC and Peacock on Sunday night.

That number is202% above the average number of viewers who have tuned into each regular episode of “SNL” throughout its 50th season, which is 4.9 million — itself a 13% improvement on last season’s same-day viewership.

And among the key adults 18-49 demographic, the special scored a 2.5 rating. According to NBC, this is the network’s most-watched primetime entertainment telecast (meaning non-sports and non-news) in five years, since the 2020 Golden Globes Awards, as well as the fourth-most-watched entertainment telecast of all time on Peacock, only coming behind three Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade telecasts.

Additionally, it can be expected that viewership for “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” will grow significantly in delayed viewing on Peacock and other digital platforms: Accounting for seven days of delayed viewing, “SNL” Season 50’s viewership average is 8.4 million, a 71% increase from the 4.9 million Live + Same Day total. (Each of these statistics comes from a combination of Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers who tune into “SNL” via NBC and NBCUniversal’s own data regarding streams on Peacock.) It should also be noted that “SNL” gets a significant portion of its viewership on YouTube, where, for example, Sunday’s “Black Jeopardy” sketch has already reached 2.8 million views.