‘The Walking Dead’ proves its dominance over ‘Game of Thrones’ season 4 with new ratings

So much for the idea of “The Walking Dead” and “Game of Thrones” being that close to each other, after all.

When it was revealed yesterday that the HBO drama was pulling in around 18 million viewers a week across multiple platforms, including repeats, On-Demand, and HBO GO, it was easy to speculate about the show possibly closing in on one of the most-popular shows on all TV (especially in the key 18-49 demographic).

However, it may be time now to officially stop the speculation. AMC revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that when you factor in the show’s repeat airings, viewings On-Demand, and via the TV Everywhere app, you are looking at viewership that comes in around 28 million a week. That is massive, and it completely dwarfs anything that the game in Westeros pulls off. It also proves yet again just how dominate the zombie drama is on TV.

Still, though, the truth remains that “Game of Thrones” receives well over half of its ratings after the new episode actually airs, and that is just further proof of the way in which people watch TV. Viewers who can afford HBO can also traditionally afford a DVR or a smartphone, and with this in mind they can watch whenever they want, provided that one of their friends does not ruin things for them.

The last piece of information that we would like to see someday (though it would be impossible to really find out) is the total viewership of these two shows when you factored in less-than-legal streams and downloads of them online. We already know that “Game of Thrones” is TV’s most-pirated show, and that may bridge the gap a little bit. (Not that this really matters, since

What do you think about these numbers, and what sort of figures do you want to see next? Share your thoughts with a comment, and head over here if you’re interested in getting more TV updates now courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter.

Photo: AMC