While it did not recover all of last week’s losses, Sunday’s “The Walking Dead” enjoyed live+same-day gains in adults 18-49 and total viewership.<\/p>\n
Per Nielsen cable data, Sunday’s “TWD” drew a 6.51 adults 18-49 rating with 12.871 million total viewers. The numbers top those of last week’s broadcast, which scored a 6.19 and 12.440 million.<\/p>\n
“The Walking Dead” led into the series premiere of “Into The Badlands.” The 55-minute premiere episode posted a 3.15 adults 18-49 rating with 6.390 million total viewers. Among adults 18-49, it trailed only “The Walking Dead” as the night’s #2 cable program (of any kind) and #2 scripted program (on either broadcast or cable).<\/p>\n
The retention percentage was not spectacular, but the unique draw of “The Walking Dead” makes it a difficult series from which to hold viewers.<\/p>\n
When in the lead-out position, the show’s own “Talking Dead” companion series rarely posts numbers on par with those of the “Into The Badlands” premiere.<\/p>\n
“Better Call Saul” provides another point of comparison. That series’ premiere, which benefited from its connection to “Breaking Bad” and aired out of a much stronger “The Walking Dead” (8.0 rating, 15.6 million viewers), drew an only slightly stronger 3.4 rating with 6.9 million total viewers.<\/p>\n
“Into The Badlands” will, of course, need to prove itself in the coming weeks. But there is little to hate about the way it started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[1048,437],"tags":[671,176,5333,969],"adace-sponsor":[],"yoast_head":"\n