Saturday Night Live Scores Biggest Premiere in 8 Years

Hosted by Margot Robbie and featuring musical guest The Weeknd, the 42nd season debut of ‘SNL’ ranked as the show’s top opener in metered-market households since 2008.

The 42nd season premiere of Saturday Night Live has delivered a +29 percent increase on its season-opening rating of one year ago to deliver the show’s highest season-debut rating in eight years, according to "live plus same day" viewing figures from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research.

With a telecast hosted by Margot Robbie and featuring musical guest The Weeknd, as well as appearances by Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump and Larry David as Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Oct. 1 Saturday Night Live averaged a 5.8 household rating, 15 share in the metered markets, up +29 percent from last year’s 4.5/11 for the Oct. 3, 2015 season-opening telecast.

It’s the highest metered-market household rating for a Saturday Night Live season premiere since Sept. 13, 2008, when the telecast hosted by Michael Phelps and featuring musical guest Lil Wayne as well as an appearance by Tina Fey as Gov. Sarah Palin, averaged a 7.5 rating in the metered markets. 

In the 25 markets with local people meters, last night’s Saturday Night Live averaged a 2.7 rating, 14 share in adults 18-49, for a +35 percent increase on the year-ago debut (2.0). It’s the highest-rated SNL season premiere in 18-49 in the local people meters since Sept. 28, 2013 (2.7 with host Tina Fey and musical guest Arcade Fire) and equals the show’s top opener since Sept. 15, 2012 (2.8 with host Seth MacFarlane and musical guest Frank Ocean).

National ratings, including viewer totals, for Saturday Night Live are due from Nielsen on Tuesday, Oct. 4.