NBC's SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE has delivered its most-watched telecast in "live plus seven day" Nielsens in more than eight years. The Feb. 11 edition, hosted by Alec Baldwin and featuring musical guest Ed Sheeran, averaged a 4.88 rating in adults 18-49 and 16.030 million viewers in "live plus seven day" figures from Nielsen Media Research, giving it the show's biggest overall audience in L+7 since Oct. 19, 2008. That 2008 telecast featured host Josh Brolin and musical guest Adele, with cameo appearances by Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.
The 16.030 million in L+7 for the Feb. 11 edition is a gain of +5.2 million persons or +48% versus the show's 10.843 million in "live plus same day" Nielsens.
In adults 18-49, the episode grew +57% to a 4.88 rating (from a 3.10 in L+SD), growing to "SNL's" highest L+7 rating since the first telecast after last November's election (5.11 with host Dave Chappelle and musical guest A Tribe Called Quest on Nov. 12, 2016) and second best since Dec. 21, 2013 (5.55 with host Jimmy Fallon and musical guest Justin Timberlake).
The 4.88 beats every primetime L+7 result for a broadcast series over that Nielsen week of Feb. 6-12 except the Feb. 7 telecast of NBC's hit drama "This Is Us" (4.99 in L+7), finishing ahead of that week's #2 primetime broadcast series, the Feb. 9 episode of "The Big Bang Theory" (4.83).
This past weekend, the Feb. 18 encore edition of "Saturday Night Live," with host Dave Chappelle and musical guest A Tribe Called Quest, averaged a 1.33 rating, 7 share in adults 18-49 and 5.375 million viewers.
That makes it the most-watched "SNL" encore in 18-49, excluding nights of NFL overruns, in two years (since Feb. 14, 2015, with an encore of the "SNL" series premiere featuring host George Carlin and musical guests Janis Ian and Billy Preston, 5.740 million).
In adult 18-49 rating, the Feb. 18 edition is the top "SNL" encore, excluding nights of NFL overruns and New Year's Eve, since April 18, 2015 (1.37 with host James Franco and musical guest Nicki Minaj).
So far this season, "Saturday Night Live" originals have been growing by +59% in 18-49 and +3.405 million persons or +45% in total viewers when going from "live plus same day" Nielsens to "live plus seven day" figures. In L+SD, "SNL" this season has averaged a 2.24 rating in 18-49 and 7.617 million viewers overall, and in L+7, "SNL" grows to a 3.57 in 18-49 and 11.022 million viewers.
Versus the same point last season, "SNL" originals are up +21% in 18-49 (3.57 vs. 2.94) and +2.253 million persons or +26% in total viewers (11.022 million vs. 8.769 million).
The average 11.022 million viewers in L+7 makes this the show's most-watched season at this point in 24 years (versus prior seasons' original telecasts through comparable dates), best since 1992-93 (12.903 million for that season's first 13 originals).
The 3.57 average in L+7 adults 18-49 rating nationally average is the show's best performances in the demo at this point since 2008-09 (4.11 for that season's first 16 originals).
Photo by: Will Heath/NBC
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