Saturday Night Live began its milestone 50th season with a sizable ratings bump.
The season premiere, hosted by Hacks Emmy winner Jean Smart, delivered 5.3 million viewers, according to same-day ratings from Nielsen (which don’t include streaming). That’s the best start for an SNL season since 2020 and a 15 percent improvement over the 4.6 million viewers who tuned in for last year’s premiere.
The premiere featured a host of guest appearances, including three by former castmembers: Maya Rudolph returned as Vice President Kamala Harris, Andy Samberg played Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, and Dana Carvey portrayed President Joe Biden. Comedian Jim Gaffigan also showed up to play Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ VP nominee, while current regular James Austin Johnson and Bowen Yang played the Republican nominees for president and vice president, Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance.
The 5.3 million viewers also makes SNL one of the most watched entertainment programs of the 2024-25 season’s first week, based on same-day figures. Pending results for Sunday’s primetime, it trails only three other shows, all on NBC: The Voice (5.96 million viewers), Chicago Fire (5.6 million) and Chicago Med (5.46 million).
SNL typically gets a ratings boost in election years — the season 46 premiere in 2020 brought in more than 8 million viewers, which was also a four-year high at the time.
