Elon Musk’s controversial turn as Saturday Night Live host led to an impressive 7.3 million viewers this past weekend, the third most-watched episode of the NBC staple’s 46th season. Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but apparently audiences love controversy. Musk’s hosting gig did more than just boost SNL‘s linear viewership as it sparked a surge of viewer demand in both the United States and worldwide.
U.S. demand for SNL on the Saturday hosted by Musk and the following Sunday was the second-highest for a host this season (69.7 times the average show in the U.S.), according to data firm Parrot Analytics. This fell just short of Dave Chappelle, who registered 70.7 times the demand of the average series around his hosting duties.
Parrot Analytics sifts through social media, fan ratings, and piracy data to represent audience demand, which reflects the desire and engagement expressed for a title within a market. While that can sometimes skew the data in favor of a title on a platform with a significantly smaller reach than its rivals but with vocal online fans, it does help to quantify the intangible buzz element of a series.
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