Viewership of online clips of Sarah Palin’s performance on last weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” is rapidly closing in on the number of viewers who watched it live, Advertising Age reports. Fifteen million people tuned in on Saturday to watch the Republican candidate for vice president rap on “Weekend Update” and hold a fake press conference. So far on NBC’s Web site, the two skits have been watched a total of 6.1 million times. This number, coupled with the 8.85 million who watched the Palin skits on Hulu.com, show the broadcast numbers likely will be surpassed in less than a week. The publication notes that even though video streaming numbers and Nielsen rating numbers aren’t comparable, the numbers show “SNL” has reached audiences it wouldn’t have via TV alone.
—Christopher Perez