The excess of buzz for the fourth season premiere of “Mad Men” paid off in leading the AMC drama to its best premiere numbers yet.
Preliminary viewership data says the Emmy-winning drama garnered an average of 2.9 million viewers for its Sunday premiere, up slightly from last year’s audience of 2.8 million. Last season’s finale scored 2.3 million viewers.
Though the jump is not as significant as that of last year’s premiere–2.8 million versus 2.1 million for season two–it remains a strong number as the show enters its fourth season and hopes to leave a valuable impression ahead of the upcoming Emmy Awards, for which it has several key nominations.