Whoops. So much for BTS helping Saturday Night Live's ratings. SNL had the worst ratings night in a long time April 13, with Emma Stone as host and the K-pop group BTS as musical guest.
Not only was Season 44, Episode 18 down in the ratings from last week with Kit Harington and Sara Bareilles, it apparently tied for a series low in the 18-49 demographic. That surprises me, since #BTSxSNL was trending Saturday night and BTS is a hugely popular band with younger fans. But many younger fans probably just watched the band's clips on SNL's YouTube. Those clips have gotten millions of views, so apparently that was enough.
According to The Futon Critic, SNL's Emma Stone/BTS episode averaged a 3.9 rating in Live + Same Day household results from the 56 local markets metered by Nielsen Media Research, and a 1.5 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.
As Deadline noted, that was a Season 44 low for meter-market households and tied a 18-49 season low in people-meter markers. The ratings also marked a near series low in households and tied for a series low in the 18-49 people-meter markets.
TV ratings are an inexact science, but they are interesting when used to compare with previous episodes measured the same way. Here are the 2019 SNL episodes to date, showing the household and 18-49 demo ratings so far:
• Emma Stone and musical guest BTS: 3.9/1.5• Kit Harington and musical guest Sara Bareilles: 4.4/1.7• Sandra Oh and musical guest Tame Impala: 4.1/1.5• Idris Elba and musical guest Khalid: 4.5/1.7• John Mulaney and musical guest Thomas Rhett: 4.7/1.9• Don Cheadle and musical guest Gary Clark Jr.: 4.3/1.6• Halsey (also musical guest): 4.7/1.9• James McAvoy and musical guest Meek Mill: 4.1/1.7• Rachel Brosnahan and musical guest Greta Van Fleet: 4.5/1.8
As you can see, the Emma Stone/BTS 3.9 rating is the lowest of this group, with the 1.5 rating in the 18-49 demo a tie for low. And that's just the 2019 section of Season 44. The first nine episodes aired in fall 2018, and mostly had stronger ratings. The Season 44 premiere with Adam Driver and Kanye West marked SNL's second-highest rated season opener in six years, with a 4.8 rating in Live + Same Day households and a 2.3 rating in 18-49 in the markets with people meters.
Some people do seem to just keep up with SNL through YouTube clips. "BTS: Boy with Luv" currently has more than 4.4 million views. That's the most views so far from the April 13 episode, following 2.5 million for BTS' other performance, and 2.5 million for the "Jail Cell Cold Open" that featured Michael Keaton guest starring as Julian Assange:
Emma Stone did a fantastic job as host in both live and pre-taped sketches, like this brilliant "The Actress" sketch:
Emma Stone was also great as Jenny McCarthy on The View:
Saturday Night Live Season 44 is taking a break for a while, probably to prepare for Adam Sandler to show up on May 4, with Shawn Mendes, just in time for sweeps.
