A contingent of Elon Musk’s legions of fans tuned in to watch the hugely popular — and controversial — billionaire tech inventor and entrepreneur make his debut as host of Saturday Night Live. Last night’s telecast, hosted by Musk with musical guest Miley Cyrus, drew a 4.7 household Live+Same Day rating in the 44 metered local markets and a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating in the 25 markets with local people meters.
That was up sharply from the most recent SNL original on April 10, with host Carey Mulligan and musical guest Kid Cudi, which averaged a 3.6 in overnight households and a 1.5 in adults 18-49.
In fact, the non-entertainer topped the metered market household ratings for any other host this season except for comedians Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. The 4.8 in households is tied for the third highest telecast of the season, behind the Nov. 7 Chappelle-hosted episode (5.7) and the Oct. 3 season premiere hosted by Rock (5.4). Last night’s household’s result matched the overnight rating for the Oct. 24 show hosted by Adele.
The 2.7 in 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters is the outright third highest of the season behind the episodes with Chappelle (3.6) and Chris Rock (2.8).
It’s worth noting that the Rock, Chappelle and Adele-hosted episodes came during and immediately after the Presidential campaign when interest in SNL is always very high. Additionally, SNL ratings typically take a hit after the onset of daytime savings time in the spring.
SNL remains #1 among all comedies on broadcast and cable in 18-49 (L+7) this season for the first time in its history. It recently slipped to No.2 in total viewers after leading for most of the season.
Social interaction for SNL content from last night’s episode is high.The skits, in which Must is front and center are getting the most views on YouTube as of Sunday morning. They are led by his monologue, in which Musk revealed that he has Asperger’s, which has been watched more than 2 million times in 12 hours.
Also hugely popular is the Chad on Mars pre-taped skit, featuring Pete Davidson’s popular character and Musk in a familiar role of leading space exploration and evoking his recent headline-making comments that many will probably die when humans go to Mars. Getting a boost from Musk posting it to his 53.6 million followers on Twitter as his “favorite” is the Mario Bros. spoof Wario, which, like Chad on Mars, is nearing the 1 million view mark Sunday morning. Also at that mark is the Weekend Update segment featuring Musk as a cryptocurrency expert that may have sent the price of Dogecoin plunging. You can watch them below.
Aidy Bryant, one of the SNL cast members who criticized the choice of Musk as host, did not appear in a skit with him.