‘Saturday Night Live’ Ratings Slip With Host Issa Rae, Remain Above 2019 Levels

Nellie Andreeva
·1 min read
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The Oct. 17 telecast of Saturday Night Live, with host Issa Rae and musical guest Justin Bieber, drew a 4.5 rating household Live+Same Day rating in the 44 metered local markets and a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating in the 25 markets with local people meters.

That was down a notch from last week’s show hosted by Bill Burr (4.7, 2.2), which in turn was off from the season premiere two weeks ago emceed by Chris Rock (5.6, 2.9). Despite the week-to-week slide, SNL, buoyed by the final stretch in the Presidential election cycle, remains up double digits over last year’s October average (+15% in households, +18% in 18-49).

SNL is a big delayed viewer gainer. The Oct. 3 season opener has already more than doubled its 18-49 rating with delayed viewing, growing by +130% with digital and linear viewership to date, from a 1.84 in Live+ Same Day to a 4.24. The season premiere also has added +6.0 million viewers overall, going from 8.2 million to 14.2 million.

In addition to the Cold Open skewering the two dueling Town Hall specials, the most popular videos from last night as of Sunday morning include the opening segment of Weekend Update focused on Donald Trump, and the Weekend Update skit featuring impersonations of three of Trump’s adult children.

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