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 ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
14/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/02/2026
Boston Conservatory Orchestra Helps Peter and Leonardo Dugan Complete Their Dre...
13/02/2026
Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) has provided an update on its adoption of the cloud as it continues on its journey to fully migrate to IT-based systems by 2...
13/02/2026
France T l visions has successfully launched France 2 UHD featuring Dolby Vision...
13/02/2026
Partnering with Worldwide Olympic Partner TCL, OBS deploys connected Athlete Mom...
13/02/2026
The men's figure skating long-form program is tonight, and it promises to be an exciting night for fans in the stands, fans at home, and even the production...
13/02/2026
With new partnership between the league and NBC, workflows distinguish more between live, broadcast sound
There'll be a lot new for the 75th NBA All-Star W...
13/02/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level have one major thing in common: the intensity and attention to detail ramps up dur...
13/02/2026
Teradek announces the launch of RF-X Auto Switcher, a revolutionary appliance designed to deliver flawless, uncompromised signal integrity for the world's m...
13/02/2026
Globecast and Synamedia announces that Pitch International (Pitch), the leading London-based sports marketing agency, has gone live with cloud-based distributi...
13/02/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
13/02/2026
Far from the action in the snow and on the ice, the team controls the production...
13/02/2026
The Daytona 500 is called The Super Bowl of Racing for a reason. Whether it's the culmination to five days of action on the track, the sheer size and scop...
13/02/2026
For the Milano Cortina Games, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) is delivering more than 6,500 hours of content, with more than 900 hours of live action, sprea...
13/02/2026
After 24-year absence, NBC Sports returns to NBA All-Star Weekend with unique ca...
13/02/2026
By Jessica Herndon
We may have just wrapped an unforgettable 2026 Sundance Film...
13/02/2026
By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...
13/02/2026
This Wednesday in Los Angeles, Spotify brought together a group of podcast creat...
13/02/2026
Yesterday, Spotify and LoveShackFancy hosted a Galentine's and Gents Lunch a...
13/02/2026
The upgrade to a Project 25 network provides state agencies communicating on the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System flexibility to tailor the network to the...
13/02/2026
Riedel Communications has officially opened a new office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, marking a strategic expansion of its global Customer Success and IT software...
13/02/2026
Two of ES Broadcast Hire's longest-serving employees recently celebrated a decade working for the company.
Annie Breislin, Operations Manager, and Charles ...
13/02/2026
Disguise, the award-winning technology company powering global experiences, today unveils a new 8,000-square-foot office and Experience Center in Atlanta, creat...
13/02/2026
At BSC Expo 2026, Mavis announced full support for the Accsoon SeeMo series of iOS camera adapters across Mavis Camera and Mavis Monitor apps. This new integrat...
13/02/2026
Executing technically ambitious live streams, virtual productions, and immersive media today requires talent, creativity, and the right supporting technology. L...
13/02/2026
Michal Miskin-Amir, Jonathan Stanton and Bobby Bond to lead technical advances amid surge in demand for LTN's IP video transport services as satellite capac...
13/02/2026
Grass Valley, the pioneering media and entertainment technology innovator, has won a competitive NATO-wide tender to provide the new camera system for NATO'...
13/02/2026
Wireless IP intercom underpins agile, multi-location live production workflows
Digital Azul, the independent production powerhouse specialising in complex liv...
13/02/2026
Actus Digital, a LiveU company, will unveil major new enhancements to its Actus X Intelligent Monitoring Platform at NAB Show (LiveU booth N1740), reinforcing i...
13/02/2026
Globecast, a worldwide leader in broadcast services, and leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that Pitch International (Pitch), the leadi...
13/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/02/2026
What can I watch on UKTV this week?What can I stream on U this week?
This guide highlights romantic dramas for Valentine's Day, alternative relationship t...
13/02/2026
New RT series tells stranger-than-fiction stories of Irish con artists
Swindlers airs Wednesday 18 February, 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
Swindlers, a...
12/02/2026
Chyron unveils PRIME 5.3, the latest software release of the company's powerful engine for live production graphics. PRIME 5.3 delivers the first official i...
12/02/2026
The vendor's VP of Product Management explains how quality assurance, monito...
12/02/2026
LTN announces the appointment of three experienced executives to lead its new Technology organization: Michal Miskin-Amir as EVP and Head of Technology, Jonatha...
12/02/2026
Riedel Communications has officially opened a new office in Kuala Lumpur, Malays...
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.
