Emily Blunt-Hosted SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Scores Its Highest Week 3 Rating in 8 Years

The Oct. 15 telecast of SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE has scored the show's highest Week 3 rating in eight years in Nielsen's metered markets.

Last night's "Saturday Night Live," with host Emily Blunt and musical guest Bruno Mars, generated a 5.0 rating, 12 share in "live plus same day" household results from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research and a 2.3/12 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

The Oct. 15 "Saturday Night Live" earned the show's highest household rating for a third telecast of a new season since the Sept. 27, 2008 edition, hosted by Anna Faris with musical guest Duffy, which scored a 6.0 rating.

In adult 18-49 results in the 25 markets with local people meters, last night's 2.3 for "Saturday Night Live" was the show's highest Week 3 rating since Oct. 12, 2013 (2.3 with host Bruce Willis and musical guest Katy Perry). The last time "SNL" rated higher in 18-49 with a Week 3 edition was on Oct. 8, 2011 (2.6 with host Ben Stiller and musical guest Foster The People).

Last night's telecast is up +19% versus the show's October 2015 average for originals in metered-market households (5.0 vs. 4.2) and up +15% in 18-49 in the local people meters (2.3 vs. 2.0 for October 2015).

National ratings, including viewer totals, for last night's "Saturday Night Live" are due from Nielsen on Tuesday.

The show's Oct. 1 season premiere, hosted by Margot Robbie and featuring musical guest The Weeknd, as well as the first appearance by Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, averaged a 5.8 rating, 15 share in metered-market households and a 2.7 rating, 14 share in 18-49 in the local people meters, best for a season premiere in households since Sept. 13, 2008 with host Michael Phelps, musical guest Lil Wayne and Tina Fey as Gov. Sarah Palin (7.5).

Note that "SNL" adds significant viewership via time-shifting, with that Oct. 1 season premiere growing by +3.897 million viewers overall going from "live plus same day" to "live plus seven day" official-national Nielsens (8.297 million to 12.194 million) and by +64% in national adult 18-49 rating (2.34 to 3.84). That made it the most-watched "SNL" debut in 22 years (since Sept. 24, 1994, 12.201 viewers with host Steve Martin and musical guest Eric Clapton) and highest-rated in 18-49 since 2008 (4.94).

This year's Week 2 "Saturday Night Live" on Oct. 8 with host Lin-Manuel Miranda and musical guest Twenty One Pilots (5.2/13 in metered-market households, 2.4/12 in 18-49 in the local people meters) equaled the show's highest Week 2 household rating since Sept. 20, 2008 (5.7 with host James Franco and musical guest Kings of Leon).

Saturday Primetime Ratings: Regarding this morning's Nielsens, note that the fast-affiliate ratings that came in at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT are not time zone-adjusted and are subject to change for live sports coverage. In these preliminary results, NBC is currently tied for #2 for the night among ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX in adults 18-49 and #2 outright among those networks in men 18-49, adults 25-54 and men 25-54 in the fast-affiliate ratings.

In metered-market results, which are time zone-adjusted, NBC Sports coverage of NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL featuring Stanford at Notre Dame averaged a 1.92 rating, 4 share in metered-market households from 7:30-11 p.m. ET. NBC ranked #2 for the night in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with Local People Meters (0.7 rating).

NOTE: Ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.

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