The red carpet show for the event, which was hosted by Willie Geist, Matt Rogers and Leslie Jones, brought in 6.5 million viewers across NBC, Peacock and E! as it aired prior to “SNL50” from 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET.

The Anniversary Special drew 14.8 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, based on Nielsen figures and internal numbers from NBCUniversal. The show is NBC's biggest primetime entertainment telecast in five years,

NBC’s 50th anniversary special for “Saturday Night Live” hit a very strong 14.8 million viewers on average across NBC and Peacock on Sunday night. That number is 202% above the average number of viewers who have tuned into each regular episode of “SNL” throughout its 50th season,