The first season finale of AMC’s “Into The Badlands” endured a week-to-week decline in adults 18-49. Its total viewership number also fell slightly.
Per Nielsen live+same-day cable data, Sunday’s episode posted a 0.83 adults 18-49 rating and reached 2.159 million total viewers. The previous week’s episode drew a 0.96 in the demo and attracted 2.209 million total viewers.
While “Into The Badlands” has suffered three straight weekly declines — including a big one for the December 6 episode, which was the first to air without “The Walking Dead” lead-in support — its numbers remain very strong by cable standards.
Among Sunday cable programs, only “The Real Housewives Of Atlanta” (all three weeks) and “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” (12/6 and 12/20) have been able to generate better adults 18-49 ratings over the past few weeks.
The show’s future will thus hinge on expectations. By positioning the first three episodes after “The Walking Dead,” AMC certainly expected “Into The Badlands” to reach a big initial audience.
But how much of that audience did AMC expect the series to retain once it began airing without “TWD” support?