Saturday Night Live might look a little different next season. As it kicks off its 42nd season in the fall, the longstanding late-night show will reportedly slash two commercial breaks from the broadcast — or what amounts to 30% of commercial advertising, AdAge reports.
It’s a move to make the show more palatable to viewers. “As the decades have gone by, commercial time has grown,” SNL’s creator and executive producer, Lorne Michaels, said in a statement. “This will give time back to the show and make it easier to watch the show live.”
In lieu of these commercials, SNL will make use of native ads. Six times per year, SNL will partner with advertisers to create branded content pods, said Linda Yaccarino, chairman-advertising sales and client partnerships, NBC Universal. SNL counts roughly 21 episodes per season.
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Yaccarino told AdAge that the decision is better suited for SNL’s younger-skewing audience. “This is a show that knows who its audience is and can capture and nurture it,” she said.
This is not the first time that SNL will partner with brands to create content, according to Variety. In 2009, the show crafted three MacGruber sketches that were also Pepsi commercials, and, that same year, Anheuser-Busch sponsored a series of never-before-seen SNL segments from rehearsals that aired during the show’s commercial breaks.
