‘Saturday Night Live’ ratings: Justin Bieber posts similar numbers to Adam Levine

When “Saturday Night Live” booked Justin Bieber to be their host and their musical guest for this weekend’s show, we are sure that they were counting on two this above all else: plenty of buzz, and numbers that were some of the best that they have had over the course of the past year. Instead, what they really ended up receiving here were some numbers that were just about on par with any other show this season.

Overall, the telecast drew a 2.7 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which was enough to make it the top-rated program on any of the major networks for Saturday night. This rating is equal to the show hosted by Adam Levine last month, even though it arguably had more promotion behind it.

So why weren’t the ratings even higher? There are really a few primary reasons that we can think of:

1. Many of the viewers may have been teenagers, and they don’t show up by and large in 18-49 ratings. (We’d be willing to bet that this was the most-watched 12-18 show of the season.

2. With the snowstorms on the east coast, many people may have had more important things to worry about … and many were without power.

3. Bieber has fans, but he also has detractors … and some loyal “SNL” viewers may have opted to just not tune in.

No matter the reason, it will be interesting to see next week how the show hosted by Christoph Waltz fares with musical guest Alabama Shakes. He has a great deal of experience as a stage actor, and this bodes well for the “Django Unchained” actor being someone who will respond well to this environment.

If you want to read our full review of Bieber’s “SNL” episode, you can do so by heading on over to the link here.

Photo: NBC