‘The Walking Dead’ season 6, episode 9 ratings still huge, but down versus season 5

At this point in time, we figure that most “Walking Dead” fans have to feel like the show has hit its saturation point. There comes a time when you’re just not going to be able to appeal to any more viewers, and for the show that time seems to be now.

We feel like, as a result of that, the goal for AMC should strictly be to try to find a way to keep all of the people you have happy, and then not worry so much about getting anyone else. Based on the quality of Sunday’s midseason premiere, we feel like almost everyone has to be happy, and the network probably is with the latest numbers.

Sunday’s episode drew in total 13.7 million viewers and also a 6.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic, which are easily enough to keep this as the #1 show on TV in the key ad demo. Sure, it is down from the midseason finale (7.0) and from the midseason premiere numbers last year, but it’s slightly above average for this season. Season 5 may remain forever the show’s strongest commercially; it averaged a 7.4 rating in the demo, and its premiere drew a huge 8.7. Just to give you some more context, the only show to come close to matching the “Walking Dead” ratings in the 2015-16 season is Fox’s “Empire,” which started season 2 with a 6.7 rating but has since declined and is averaging around a 4.8 as a whole.

Ultimately, we’ll see what happens as “The Walking Dead” continues this season. While we’d be shocked to see a ratings surge above an 8.0 again, who knows with Negan on the horizon? That episode could get some people back who are only casually viewing / storing the show on the DVR.

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