Its hard to imagine better timing for the 44th season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Just two days after the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committees Ford-Kavanaugh hearings, the NBC sketch comedy returned to the air with a cold-open segment that focused on that particular political circus.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was, as you might expect, the focus of the opener but the big surprise was that special guest Matt Damon, rather than an SNL cast member, played him. The studio audience seemed thrilled, and social media exploded. And of this writing, the cold open, as posted to the official "SNL" YouTube channel, has racked up more than 11 million views.
To gauge viewer response to both the broadcast and online video versions of Matt Damons star turn, we worked with social video analytics company Tubular Labs and emotion measurement AI company Canvs.
Related: Heres Whos Watching Saturday Night Live and Where Theyre Watching It
But first, some background: According to Tubular, there's been a voracious appetite for clips related to the Ford-Kavanaugh hearings. Since Thursday, videos related to the topic that were uploaded to Facebook received 283 million views, while YouTube videos on the subject have been viewed 121 million times.
Looking specifically at the SNL cold open clip, it's generated 3.9 million views on Facebook and more than 12 million views on YouTube since it was posted early Sunday morning.
According to Canvs, positive emotions dominated during both the SNL premiere on NBC (which generated 48,771 Emotional Reactions) and the cold open clip that SNL uploaded to YouTube (10,760 ERs), with people primarily expressing love and laughter around the show.
Matt Damon, naturally, drove the bulk of emotional conversation for both.
Word cloud of the most-mentioned topics during the SNL premiere on NBC, via Canvs
Word cloud of the most-mentioned topics on the YouTube clip of Matt Damon's cold open, via Canvs
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
10/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
10/07/2026
FUJIFILM North America Corporation has announced the FUJINON GF19-35mmT3.5 PZ OIS WR, a cinema power zoom lens for the GFX System with native G Mount. The lens ...
10/07/2026
Dalet has announced a new Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex, expanding AI capabilities, workflow automation, and integration with Dalia, Dalet'...
10/07/2026
Blackmagic Design has released Fairlight Live, a free software-based broadcast audio mixer for Mac and Windows, available for download now. Simultaneously, the ...
10/07/2026
FloSports and the USA South Athletic Conference have announced an exclusive medi...
10/07/2026
Daktronics has manufactured and installed an LED video display at Field of Dream...
10/07/2026
Registration is now open for NAB Show New York 2026, taking place October 21-22 ...
10/07/2026
Sphere Entertainment Co. and the Formula 1 Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix have an...
10/07/2026
CBS Sports and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have announced a media rights partnership covering the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 and the AFC U23 Asi...
10/07/2026
Sony Electronics has announced the RX10 V, the fifth generation of its RX10 all-in-one camera series. The camera will be available in August 2026 at a suggested...
10/07/2026
Chyron has announced PRIME 5.4, an update to its unified graphics, playout, and ...
10/07/2026
The nine-time Emmy Award-winning video engineer was a pioneer of NASCAR in-car cameras and a longtime fixture in FOX Sports' video-control operation...
10/07/2026
FuboTV Inc. has announced the appointment of Alisa Bowen as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 10. Bowen succeeds David Gandler, who co-founded the company...
10/07/2026
Every entry on Nielsen's Top 25 Live Sports Events Telecasts for the week of...
10/07/2026
The Braves opted to keep production in-house rather than hand it off to MLB...
10/07/2026
Drones, jibs, robos are part of the expanded camera complement for the Professional Bull Riders series
PBR Teams' 2026 season, with a 10-team field competi...
10/07/2026
(L-R) Michael Arndt, Paul Dano, Toni Collette, Valerie Faris, Abigail Breslin, Jonathan Dayton, and Greg Kinnear attend the Park City Legacy program screening o...
10/07/2026
Discounted rates available through 27 August 2026
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) have announced that Early Bird registration is now open for the AES Sh...
10/07/2026
New in-ear monitors to launch in August 2026
Sony have announced the upcoming launch of a new pair of in-ear monitors that promise to deliver a secure, stab...
10/07/2026
Why CRAS Upgraded to Symphony I/O MK II When an audio school runs studios all day, every day, gear doesn't just need to sound good , it needs to survive rea...
10/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/07/2026
Hey Man, Cheech & Chong's Last Movie Rolls With SNS EVO
Melanie Ciotti July 10, 2026
0 Comments
Richard Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong have long b...
10/07/2026
Alex Zarfati's Fail Safe Shot with Blackmagic PYXIS 12K
Brie Clayton July 10, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's full frame sensor supports anamorphic s...
10/07/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
10/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
10/07/2026
Data has always been central to media operations. Every ad that airs, every campaign that delivers, and every audience that's measured- all of it generates ...
10/07/2026
New RT documentary explores Irish-led efforts to build bridges in divided Cyprus
More than a Game: From D1 to Pyla airs Monday 13 July
More Than a Game: Fro...
09/07/2026
With 50+ cameras, three trucks, 60+ EVS channels, RFID hole-card workflows, and ...
09/07/2026
A recent graduate from Westchester, NY, this experienced technician has already started her first gig in the industry, as a REMI A2 Comms Specialist at ESPN
In...
09/07/2026
Live sports production is a fast-paced industry with no signs of slowing down. W...
09/07/2026
From a rooftop studio in Manhattan, multiple Germany-based companies share respo...
09/07/2026
Overtime has announced a content partnership with FOX One to produce Race to Glo...
09/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced that Ross Production Services (RPS) has standardized on ...
09/07/2026
The NFL has announced that NetApp will return as Presenting Partner of the NFL Madrid Game, featuring the Atlanta Falcons against the Cincinnati Bengals at the ...
09/07/2026
The R&A and Cisco have announced a multi-year partnership making Cisco the Official Network Supplier of The R&A and its Championships. Cisco will deploy AI-read...
09/07/2026
Fox Television Stations, Extreme Reach (XR), and LTN have announced the completi...
09/07/2026
Kiswe has announced a partnership with Wynn Records to launch the Wynn Records Network streaming platform, debuting Saturday, July 11 with a Salita Promotions b...
09/07/2026
NEP Europe has announced a new multi-year agreement with Wimbledon Broadcast Ser...
09/07/2026
Thropic Games, a company offering casual mobile games tied to fan fundraising for sports programs, has announced a pre-seed funding round led by The Famous Grou...
09/07/2026
Game Creek Video has reached an agreement with Grass Valley to purchase 10 K-Frame production switchers as part of a two-year fleet expansion. Two systems have ...
09/07/2026
Gravity Media is delivering a three-hub remote production workflow for ITV's...
09/07/2026
A new report from Quickplay and Caretta Research, The Broadcaster Revolution Wi...
Its hard to imagine better timing for the 44th season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Just two days after the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committees Ford-Kavanaugh hearings, the NBC sketch comedy returned to the air with a cold-open segment that focused on that particular political circus.
