Saturday Night Live UK Debuts to Strong Ratings on Sky
Saturday Night Live made its UK debut, drawing an audience of nearly 230,000 viewers.
Sky’s adaptation of NBC’s iconic 50-year-old comedy series has received a mixed set of reviews, though the overall sentiment appears positive. The show has already produced standout moments, including Jack Shep’s notable portrayal of Princess Diana in a spoof featuring David Attenborough.
In its 10PM timeslot on Sky One, Saturday Night Live UK attracted 226,000 viewers, representing a 3.2% share of the available TV audience at that time, according to official BARB figures from overnights.tv.
This performance positioned it above Channel 4, which aired Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, attracting 215,000 viewers. Meanwhile, the top-rated broadcast of the hour was BBC News on BBC One, which reached nearly 2 million viewers.
The debut of Saturday Night Live UK significantly outperformed its American counterpart, which airs on Sky Comedy. The 51st season of NBC’s Saturday Night Live premiered last year with only 6,800 viewers, while the recent episode hosted by Harry Styles was watched by a mere 4,550 viewers, despite airing later at 11:30 PM.
Comparatively, A League of Their Own, Sky’s most successful comedy entertainment series over the past decade, began its final season on November 12 with just 60,000 viewers—marking a quarter of the audience SNL UK drew. In its first season, A League of Their Own attracted up to 600,000 viewers, highlighting the fragmentation of audiences over the years.
Sky has historically downplayed the importance of overnight ratings. Even prior to the rise of streaming, the Comcast-owned broadcaster favored measurements that factored in repeat broadcasts and catch-up viewing. As such, the live audience numbers for Saturday Night Live will be just one indicator of the show’s success. Sky will also evaluate viewing data from its streaming service, Now, along with online clip engagement.
It is feasible that a sketch from SNL UK could garner more views online than from traditional broadcasts—one X/Twitter post featuring the cold open already boasts over one million views. As a comedy, Saturday Night Live typically takes time to cultivate an audience. While UK viewers are familiar with the U.S. version, the British adaptation introduces a new creative team and largely unknown cast members to the television landscape.
