According to The Hollywood Reporter, The 50th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live, SNL50: The Anniversary Special, aired on Sunday, drawing an impressive 14.8 million viewers across NBC and Peacock. This milestone event marked NBC’s most-watched primetime entertainment broadcast in five years, surpassed only by the 2020 Golden Globes (18.33 million viewers).

For adults ages 18-49, SNL50 achieved a 2.53 rating, translating to approximately 3.39 million viewers in that age range, per The Hollywood Reporter. This rating represents a five-year high for NBC’s primetime entertainment programming.

SNL50 claimed the second-highest viewership for a non-sports primetime network show in the 2024-25 season, trailing only the Grammy Awards on CBS. The special’s audience more than tripled the average viewership of regular SNL episodes this season.

Prior to the big reunion episode, the SNL red carpet special averaged about 6.5 million viewers on NBC, E! and Peacock.

The anniversary show, which ran for nearly three and a half hours, featured beloved sketch revivals, surprise celebrity cameos and musical performances by Adam Sandler (Grown Ups, Big Daddy, The Waterboy), Paul Simon (“The Sound of Silence,” “The Boxer”), Sabrina Carpenter (“Espresso,” “Please Please Please”), Miley Cyrus (“Flowers,” “Party in the U.S.A”), Brittany Howard (“Stay High,” “13th Century Metal”), Lil Wayne (“Lollipop,” “A Milli”), The Roots (“You Got Me,” “Proceed,” “The Seed”) and Paul McCartney (“Here Comes the Sun,” “Hey Jude,” “Let it Be”). Many viewers also tuned in to the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert two days prior to watch more SNL alumni take the stage.

While SNL50 didn’t match the 23.1 million viewers of the 40th anniversary special a decade ago, it’s worth noting the significant shift in viewing habits and the decline in traditional TV subscriptions since then. The 40th anniversary special of Saturday Night Live was just 1.7 million viewers shy of that year’s Grammy Awards, which attracted 24.82 million viewers. In contrast, the gap between the 2025 Grammys and SNL50 this year was only 600,000 viewers.