The Walking Dead fans have made history once again when they tuned in last night for the mid-season premiere. The AMC show returned with a record breaking 12.3 million viewers. That is not only the largest audience the show and the network have received, but also the largest audience in basic cable history. The Walking Dead performed exceptionally well in its season three premiere on October 14, 2012 garnering 10.9 million viewers and breaking cable records then. The latest episode outdid the season premiere in total viewers and more importantly, in the coveted adult 18-49 demographic with 7.7 million up about 6 percent from the 6.8 million of the premiere.
In fact, the season three averages for the 18-49 demographic outperform many popular network programs such as Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, and NCIS. No doubt this will draw attention in from potential advertisers for whom the 18-49 demographic is critically important.
In addition to The Walking Dead’s great success last night, its' companion series TheTalking Dead drew in 4.1 million viewers interested in extending their Walking Dead experiences. The show, which consists of various people (fans, actors, producers, etc.) discussing the latest episode has been expanded to a full hour for the second half of the season.
The president of AMC, Charlie Collier, showed his gratitude to the program’s audience saying, “When you look at numbers like this, the first thing that comes to mind is how grateful we are to the fans of this show. They embrace ‘The Walking Dead’ in a way that we wanted to believe was possible but we never take for granted.”
