Fresh after coming off the worst ratings Saturday Night Live has seen when Owen Wilson hosted the season 47 premiere, the controversial choice of having media personality Kim Kardashian West host the late-night variety show actually gave SNL a significant ratings boost.
According to “Deadline“, the October 9 telecast hosted by Kim Kardashian West, with musical guest Halsey, drew a 3.8 household live + same-day rating in 44 metered local markets and a 1.6 ratings in the coveted 18-49 demo in the 25 markets with local people meters. Saturday’s telecast outperformed all but one of the low-rated final six telecasts from last season.
Despite the controversy that was sparked by Kardashian West hosting, mostly because she’s not a performer and certainly had nothing to promote on SNL, the overall reaction to her hosting gig has been surprisingly positive. Her four-minute opening monologue received solid reviews for her delivery of the jokes and her willingness to allow the writers to poke fun at her and her famous family. You can earn a lot of credit from the masses if you appear to be in on the joke. Kim Kardashian West’s sketches are also being highly viewed on YouTube with a Jasmine and Aladdin sketch, featuring Kardashian West and Pete Davidson getting the most views as well as a cut-for-time sketch featuring Kardashian as part of a pop trio auditioning for a job promoting Costco to teens. The Jasmine and Aladdin sketch has received 2.2 million views as of this writing while the Costco sketch has surged over that with 2.4 million views.
Did YOU check out Kim Kardashian West on SNL? Did YOU think she did a good job?