While great numbers for any show on broadcast or cable nowadays, thats down 16% and 15% in viewers and the demo, respectively, from the then and still record-breaking Season 5 premiere of the AMC series on October 12, 2014. It is also down from the Season 4 debut on October 13, 2013, which had an 8.2 demo rating and 16.1 million total viewers. But Sundays debut is the top show of the 2015-15 TV season so far and it is the third-best season opener TWD has had, topping the then record-breaking Season 3 opener of October 14, 2012.
While great numbers for any show on broadcast or cable nowadays, thats down 16% and 15% in viewers and the demo, respectively, from the then and still record-breaking Season 5 premiere of the AMC series on October 12, 2014. It is also down from the Season 4 debut on October 13, 2013, which had an 8.2 demo rating and 16.1 million total viewers. But Sundays debut is the top show of the 2015-15 TV season so far and it is the third-best season opener TWD has had, topping the then record-breaking Season 3 opener of October 14, 2012.
Sundays The Walking Dead was up from the 6.7/20 demo result of the biggest show on the Big 4, the Empire Season 2 debut of September 23. But compared with the 15.8 million viewers with 10.4 million among the 18-49s of its March 29 Season 5 finale, the Season 6 opener slipped; debut to finale, it dipped 9% among the 18-49s and 7% in total viewers. Unsurprisingly, TWD was well up this weekend over the 6.86 million total viewers and a 3.37 rating that the Season 1 finale of companion series Fear The Walking Dead pulled in on October 4 in Live+Same Day results.
BTW, the Season 5 debut of TWD last October went up to another record breaker of 22.372 million total viewers and 14.523 million in the demo in Live+3 results, aka 29% and 32% jumps, respectively. Thats going to be the next set of number to watch for later this week, record or no record. And one last stat for today: according to Nielsen, the TWD S6 premiere generated 611,000 event-related tweets. Thats the second best of any show this week with American Horror Story: Hotels debut October in the top spot with 878,000.