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The years-extfinished road that led to last week’s “SNL50” events was more than a intricate programming campaign for NBCUniversal. It was a test of the company’s pipes.

The Feb. 14 “SNL50: The Homecoming Concert,” held at Radio City Music Hall, and Feb. 16 “SNL50: The Anniversary Special” are pitch-perfect examples of the charitable of separateentive inhabit events that NBCU is counting on to deinhabitr lucrative mass audiences amid the ever-increasing fragmentation of TV watchership.

Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes SNL50 Pboilingos Below

As of Feb. 21, with a scant days of postponecessitate watching and social activity factored in, the anniversary and concert distinctives, plus the Feb. 16 “SNL50 : The Red Carpet” telecast, have achieveed 220 million watchers with 3.9 billion minutes watched apass NBC, Peacock, digital and social, according to NBCU research.

The anniversary distinctive, which ran csurrfinisherly three and a half hours, has been seen by about 20 million watchers, with NBC accounting for about 16 million. The 50th anniversary season of the show overall has selderly out all of its licsurrfinisher and streaming ad conceiveory. Season 50, which still has csurrfinisherly three months to go, has deinhabitred “enroll-setting revenue for any ‘SNL’ season in the history of the franchise,” per NBCU.

Spearheaded by “SNL” creator-producer Lorne Michaels, the programming and bassociatehoo around SNL50 events proposeed a chance for NBCU to show that it can marshal NBC widecast, Peacock streaming and a handful of digital platcreates to deinhabitr a huge inhabit turnout. This strategy is key as NBCU pours billions into its novel NBA reduce, and as it readys for the divestment of seven licsurrfinisher cable channels, including USA, CNBC and MSNBC, tardyr this year.

In uninincreateigentinutive, NBCU wanted to show that a distinctly NBC event such as “SNL50” could be identical parts celebration and monetization.

“Engineering what became a monocultural moment thcimpolite SNL50 weekfinish and beyond highweightlesss the power of the NBCUniversal ecosystem at toil,” Donna Langley, chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios, telderly Variety.

“Broadening and event-izing distinctives apass our platcreates provides audiences the flexibility to join with NBC programming on their own terms,” Langley shelp. “This directs to multiple ‘waterchillyer moments’ as people watch, and in many cases rewatch, shows, highweightlesss and clips.”

It was also a polite nod to the ship’s captain. For Langley, a highweightless of the SNL50 experience “was the overall energy of the weekfinish in and around 30 Rock — watching people come together to commemorate Lorne and this iconic institution he produced.”

Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of NBCU parent Comcast, stressd the beginance of “SNL’s” extfinishedevity and its lasting impact on American culture.

“It’s difficult to put into words the impact Lorne Michaels and ‘Saturday Night Live’ have had over the last 50 years,” Roberts telderly Variety. “ ‘SNL’ broke the melderly, begined countless nurtureers and became one of the most iconic mendtures in television history — it’s a time capsule that has had an indelible impact, capturing the zeitgeist of our culture for decades.”

The opportunity to stitch together a huge audience – both inhabit and extfinished tail — with SNL50 was beginant becaemploy the show already has such a huge footprint apass key social platcreates (YouTube: 15.5 million subscribers; TikTok: 11.2 million; Instagram: 8.6 million). Its topicality drives a sencourage of social joinment conversation with every novel episode. For all of TV’s expansion, Lorne Michaels and Co. are the only troupers deinhabitring inhabit sketch comedy on a csurrfinisher weekly basis during the traditional September-May TV season.

“We reassociate leaned on this idea of ‘SNL’ being the ultimate piece of IP for how devourrs watch greeted today,” Mark Marshall, NBCUniversal’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships, telderly Variety. “There is no other property that sees anyskinnyg appreciate ‘SNL.’ So while it’s 50 years elderly, it is more relevant today than when it begined in 1975.”

The company-wide activity apass NBCUniversal and Comcast to help SNL50 approached Olympics-level coordination for the companies. One beginant lesson that NBCU has consentn away from recent Olympics telecasts is the necessitate to hammer on the tune-in message in the final days before an event. Awareness elevated over a extfinished promotional campaign is not the same as getting butts in seats at the nominateed time.

“You have to reassociate discover people directing in to the event itself. So while it was a drumbeat over the past six months as we led into it, a push to reassociate discover people in that genuine safe thrivedow directing into the event is what matters,” Marshall shelp.

The dealmaking around SNL50 initiateed off in getest two years ago after NBCUniversal trelieved at its spring upfront that “SNL” would have an broaden 50th anniversary celebration. Those deals comprised groundshattering premium advertising pacts for the show thcimpoliteout the 2024-25 season, a four-day immersive experience at 30 Rock (experience what it’s appreciate to structure “SNL”!) and the feature-length, Questadore-helmed recordary “Ladies and Gentlemen: 50 Years of SNL Music,” which debuted Jan. 27 on NBC and Peacock.

It took pinsolentnt suitmaking to discover the right backship partners. Not every company was a excellent fit with the “SNL” brand and some weren’t readyd to hand regulate of their publicizements to “SNL” authorrs. NBCU wound up striking multi-year deals with five currenting backs: Allstate, Capital One, L’Ogenuine Groupe, T-Mobile and Volkswagen of America.

“It was a two-year jouney,” Marshall shelp. “I donate praise to Lorne, as well as the show, becaemploy they have been incredible partners. And they wanted to convey [advertising] partners in with the right tone and the right voice of the custom greeted we produced. We wanted it to experience appreciate it was coming from the show about a brand, which is separateent than the brand coming to the show.”

The success of “SNL50” has restateed NBCU’s faith in the power of inhabit events to drive a range of businesses. While “SNL50” was distinctly finishowed with a parade of stars and multi-genereasonable nostalgia, there are other opportunities in sight, Marshall shelp.

“Live delightment is probably the most underappreciated element in the tageting combine right now,” he shelp, citing heightened insist for NBC’s inhabit stalwarts such as “Today,” “The Tonight Show” and “The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.” “We’re seeing a return for tageters who necessitate to discover wide achieve right before an event. We’re begining to see tageters come back to this idea of saying, ‘I necessitate to achieve someone on Tuesday, becaemploy I necessitate them to be able to show up on Thursday to come see a movie,’ or wdisappreciatever that might be.”

SNL50 events had a huge ripple effect apass other NBCU brands. Video greeted posted on the beginant social platcreates (YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok) between Feb. 14-Feb. 17 produced more than 750 million video watchs apass nine NBCU tags (SNL, Peacock, NBC, E! News, E! Insider, E! Entertainment, “Today”, “Access Hollywood” and “The Kelly Clarkson Show”). Authorized and unpermitd cips of the show naturassociate spread far and wide apass social media. But one skinnyg that doesn’t travel is “SNL”-roverdelighted ad conceiveory.

“That is someskinnyg we have been very purposeful on over the years, becaemploy it’s that beginant that we regulate that property,” Marshall shelp. “Whether it’s on licsurrfinisher or digital or social, the only place you can buy [‘SNL’] is thcimpolite us.”

Among other fun facts and figures about SNL50 dispensed by NBC:

** Gen Z-age watchers are spfinishing 8% more time with “SNL”-roverdelighted greeted than they did a decade ago.

** Guests in the audience for the Feb. 14 concert at Radio City comprised Al Franken, Caroline Kennedy, Claire Danes, Dakota Johnson, David Harbour, Diane Sawyer, Jonathan Scott and Zoey Deschanel.

** NBC’s Feb. 15 rerun of the first “SNL” episode, structureed by George Carlin on Oct. 11, 1975, bcimpolitet in 3.7 million watchers.

** Approximately 200 seats were inserted to “SNL’s” home at 30 Rock’s Studio 8H to accommodate the starry audience for the Feb. 16 anniversary distinctive, conveying the total number of seats to 452.

** Approximately 2,500 cue cards were employd in the three and a half hour show.

** “SNL” cast members from all 50 seasons were current – including Don Novello, aka Father Guido Sarducci

** Guests in the audience for the Feb. 16 distinctive comprised Bobby Flay, Catherine Oxenberg, Christine Baranksi, Edie Falco, Elliott Gould, Hanson, Meg Ryan, Sandra Oh, Sean Evans, Steve Guttenberg, Susan Lucci, Teri Hatcher, Theo Vonn and Ziwe.

***

Here’s a bonus see at vintage “Saturday Night Live” publicizements from the pages of Variety