Ryan Gosling’s ‘SNL’ Ranks as Most-Watched Episode of Season 49 With 8.9 Million Viewers
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Ryan Gosling’s “SNL” appearance stands as the most-watched episode of Season 49. The April 13 episode, which saw Chris Stapleton perform alongside the “Barbie” star, drew in 8.9 million viewers on NBC, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day viewing. That marks the biggest audience for “Saturday Night Live” this season.
Featuring Gosling’s “The Fall Guy” costar Emily Blunt as a surprise guest, the episode also scored the most social video views of the season with 107.3 million views across social media. Gosling’s “Beavis and Butt-Head” sketch, with “SNL” castmate Mikey Day breaking fellow cast member Heidi Gardner, was the most-watched sketch of the season as it drew 15.8 million views on YouTube.
Gosling’s appearance also brought in the biggest audience “SNL” has seen since Billie Eilish hosted and performed as a musical guest in November 2021.
After hosting appearances from “SNL” alum Pete Davidson and Kristen Wiig, as well as newcomers Jacob Elordi and Reneé Rapp, “Saturday Night Live” closed out its 49th season with an average viewership of 7.2 million. That’s up 3% from last season’s average viewership.
“SNL” ranked as the most-watched entertainment series across broadcast and cable for the 2023-24 season in the 18-49 key demo. It ranked as the No. 1 most-watched comedy series in the demo for the fifth consecutive season.
Season 49 also outpaced Season 48 in terms of social media views, with Season 49 seeing a 36% uptick in social media views when compared with last season.
Kicking off its season after 2023’s Hollywood strikes, viewership for the Season 49 premiere, which was hosted by Davidson, exceeded last season’s 2022 premiere with 4.8 million viewers. The buzzy episode featured guest appearances from Taylor Swift, who introduced her “Karma” collaborator Ice Spice, as well as NFL star Travis Kelce.
Produced in association with Broadway Video, “SNL” is executive produced by Lorne Michaels, the sketch show’s creator.
All seasons of “SNL” are available to stream on Peacock.
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