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 ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
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...
31/07/2026
With an emphasis on local, the league is looking beyond the initial four teams t...
31/07/2026
The 2026 Sundance Institute Directors Lab fellows in Estes Park, Colorado (Photo by Gabe Rovick)
Dear Friends,
This has been an extraordinary year for our ar...
31/07/2026
Offers 360-degree sound placement in any DAW
Audiocube have just announced the launch of a new plug-in that embeds a complete 3D acoustic environment inside...
31/07/2026
10 new Chinese C-Pop voices introduced
While Sonarworks are best known to many for their room-correction software, their product range also includes an inno...
31/07/2026
Reimagines the vintage BBD sound character
PSPaudioware have now officially launched the new delay plug-in that they were previewing at GearExpo UK. Said to...
31/07/2026
The Savannah Bananas has built its reputation on refusing to play baseball by traditional rules, and the team's production arm Banana Ball TV (BTV) has draf...
31/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/07/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today opened early registration for the 2026 Media Technology Summit (MTS) and announced i...
31/07/2026
Clear-Com announced that Central Christian Church has transformed communication across its live production operations by implementing Clear-Com's LQ Seri...
31/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
31/07/2026
IBC has unveiled the finalists for the IBC2026 Innovation Awards, recognising collaborative projects from around the world that solve real-world challenges and ...
31/07/2026
From focus puller to colourist
Caroline Shawley July 30, 2026
0 Comments
Ana Mar a Ormaza shares her story of instinct, storytelling and finding a cre...
31/07/2026
Amazon Prime Documentary Andata e Ritorno Relies on Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton July 30, 2026
0 Comments
DaVinci Resolve Studio and Blackmagic Clou...
31/07/2026
Krotos Launches Video to Sound Plugin for DaVinci Resolve
Brie Clayton July 30, 2026
0 Comments
AI-assisted workflow helps editors add synchronized, p...
31/07/2026
Luxembourg, July 31, 2026 - Pursuant to the liquidity contract entered into by SES with BNP Paribas as of 7 April 2026, please see the below update on the progr...
31/07/2026
Luxembourg, July 31, 2026 - SES today published a restatement of its FY2025 EU Taxonomy (Article 8) disclosure. The restatement updates the FY2025 EU Taxonomy d...
31/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Mercedes-Benz Ireland will return as the offi...
31/07/2026
RT Supporting the Arts is delighted to spotlight a diverse range of arts, culture and heritage events taking place across Ireland this August. From major festi...
30/07/2026
CP Communications provided RF audio, RF video, communications, RF coordination, ...
30/07/2026
OpenDrives has been included in CRN's 2026 Storage 100 list in the Software-Defined Storage category. The annual list, selected by the CRN editorial team, r...
30/07/2026
LATAM Airlines has selected SES to provide multi-orbit inflight connectivity to its fleet of Airbus and Embraer aircraft. More than 60 aircraft - including Airb...
30/07/2026
Tagboard has launched the Producer API, an open interface that allows key commands in Tagboard's live production environment to be triggered from external d...
30/07/2026
FOX Sports and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) have announced a multi-year agreement with Del Mar Thoroughbred Club that will make FOX Sports the exclusi...
30/07/2026
ABC Commercial has launched four free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels on LG Smart TVs across North America, Great Britain, and select countrie...
30/07/2026
The Six Kings Slam exhibition tennis tournament will return to Riyadh on October 21, 22, and 24, streaming live on Netflix at no additional cost to subscribers....
30/07/2026
Central Christian Church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois has deployed Clear-Com's LQ...
30/07/2026
Blackmagic Design has released the UltraStudio Express 3G family, a pair of USB4 capture and playback devices compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux computers ...
30/07/2026
ESPN has reached a media rights agreement with the Women's Pro Baseball League (WPBL), making ESPN the national streaming home of the league's 2026 seas...
30/07/2026
Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and the Professional Fighters League (PFL) have announced a merger that will operate under the MVP banner. PFL CEO John Martin wi...
30/07/2026
The Columbus Blue Jackets will simulcast all game broadcasts across television and radio beginning with the 2026-27 NHL season. Under the new format, the televi...
30/07/2026
TMRW Sports has selected Populous as architect for a purpose-built stadium for its professional flag football league, being developed in partnership with the NF...
30/07/2026
SiriusXM has announced SiriusXM Sports Pass, a new subscription plan launching September 1 that bundles the company's sports audio programming into a single...
30/07/2026
Leagues, broadcasters, and technologists gather to tackle cloud economics, distr...
30/07/2026
A major player in the cloud-based solutions, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has conti...
30/07/2026
The NBA will provide production for all local game broadcasts, including pregame and postgame coverage...
30/07/2026
Cosm will open its fourth immersive sports and entertainment venue in downtown Detroit on September 10. Located at 25 Cadillac Square, adjacent to Campus Martiu...
30/07/2026
NFL Network will be available on the ESPN App beginning July 30 for Unlimited plan subscribers. The addition brings NFL Network's live games, studio program...
30/07/2026
NEP Group has added Riedel's SimplyLive Production Suite to NEP Platform, giving customers access to the live production software through NEP's orchestr...
30/07/2026
LOS ANGELES, CA, July 30, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announce...
30/07/2026
A new take on classic algorithmic reverbs
Waves have just introduced a new flagship algorithmic reverb plug-in that offers the company's take on the ico...
30/07/2026
Save up to 30% on virtual instruments & plug-ins
Arturia have recently launched their annual Summer Sale, which sees discounts of up to 30% applied across a...
30/07/2026
ActiveAnalogue technology powers new flagship modular console
A year on from the launch of the Oracle, SSL have revealed a new flagship console which they s...
30/07/2026
Up to 22dBA of passive attenuation
The latest arrival to the beyerdynamic range introduces a new compact monitoring headphone that's been designed to ta...
30/07/2026
As part of its traditional graduation ceremony, SGL Carbon honored the achievements of a total of twelve young professionals who successfully completed their ap...
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.
