Walking Dead mid-season premiere the lowest rated ever
By Shawn Lealos
The Walking Dead mid-season premiere promised a heart-breaking episode but ended up with the lowest viewer rating for any mid-season return in the show’s history.
Fans continue to abandon The Walking Dead in season eight, and not even the death of a beloved cast member was enough to bring them back. While Chandler Riggs and the rest of the cast put together a solid farewell for Carl Grimes, the episode’s return was a rating’s disappointment.
According to Variety, The Walking Dead mid-season premiere had the lowest numbers of any mid-season return to date. Nielsen Live+Same Day data reports that the ratings for adults aged 18-49 was a low 3.6 with 8.3 million viewers. Interestingly, the mid-season premiere rating was lower than season seven’s (3.6 to 4.2), but more people watched this year’s premiere (8.3 to 8.1 million).
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This rating is a step up from the mid-season finale brought in, as that episode had a 3.4 rating in that age bracket and 7.9 million viewers. This was after The Walking Dead hit a season-low 3.28 rating with 7.47 million viewers for the seventh episode of the season.
To explain the numbers, the Live+Same Day rating means the people watching The Walking Dead when it is airing, which is 9 p.m. EST on Sunday nights. This does not include anyone who DVRs the show and watches it later.
Despite that, the drop in people watching The Walking Dead live is concerning and is likely the reason that AMC chose to change showrunners for season nine.
With that said, it is also important to note that the drop in ratings does not put The Walking Dead in any danger of cancelation. While the numbers are dropping, The Walking Dead is still the number one show on TV for Sunday and the top-rated cable show as well for that day. This means that the people not watching the show live are not helping other shows overtake the AMC series.
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As a matter of fact, the second place show on Sunday was Talking Dead, with a 1.5 rating and 3.6 million viewers. The Walking Dead is also still the number one show on TV for adults, aged 18-49, for the sixth year in a row.
Next: Walking Dead: Chandler Riggs talks Negan
The Walking Dead airs on Sunday nights on AMC at 8 PM CT.