The Walking Dead season 8 ratings sagging behind Game of Thrones
With the numbers in from Sunday night’s new episode of the AMC drama series factored in, The Walking Dead is generating (as a whole) a 4.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic and almost 9.4 million viewers. If this was virtually any other show under the sun we’d sit here and proclaim this to be outstanding. Yet, this is a show that was once routinely getting ratings over a 6.0 in the demo and was shattering cable records left and right.
The Walking Dead does remain a very good show, but let’s reiterate something we’ve said many times over now: This show would have benefited from an end date. With it continuing to go on for however long AMC wants it to is becoming almost a soap opera with zombies — there’s nothing bad with that if it’s fine with becoming more of an under-the-radar show. Even with the ratings being what they are now this is a series that is just not getting as much attention as we feel like it was in the past.
Now, let’s compare this to the current performance of Game of Thrones over at HBO. The seventh season of that show drew a 4.8 rating coupled with well over 10 million viewers an episode. The fantasy epic is now officially the hottest show on TV in the demo and we don’t foresee it losing that title at any point between now and the series finale. Given the long layoff between seasons as well as the fact that the final six episodes are ahead, it would not be a shock if Game of Thrones were to somehow draw more than 12 million viewers a week for its final season if not more. We almost anticipate the series finale to be one of the most-watched episodes in cable history since it’s the sort of thing that nobody wants to miss watching live. Can you imagine having something like this spoiled for you and how much frustration / anger that would cause? We would be nerd raging for weeks.
Did you only think it was a matter of time before The Walking Dead season 8 ratings fell off, and what do you think now that it has finally happened? Share some of your thoughts now in the comments!
Also, be sure to take a look over here in the event you want to read our most-recent Walking Dead episode review and like CarterMatt on Facebook to get some more news on this show and some others we cover at the site. (Photo: AMC.)
Michael Goldman
November 15, 2017 @ 2:26 am
People are surprised by this? The Walking Dead ratings were falling last season. People were screaming about too much violence after the First episode, and the people who make the show gave in. Has any intelligent person tried to find the difference between the budget for Game of Thrones and that of The Walking Dead? The budget for Game if Thrones BLOWS the budget for The Walking Dead off the map. How many popular characters have died in Game of Thrones? How many of them came back to life? When people DIE in The Walking Dead, they don’t come back to life. There may be a flashback scene or a partial episode, but they don’t come back to life. How many characters have been written out of The Walking Dead to pursue other options? Some of them weren’t getting enough work. Some of them got bored. When popular characters leave a show for good, it always hurts. I expect Game to have an Unbelievable last season ratings wise, but then it is OVER. Hopefully TWD will keep gong for years to come. The ratings are better than MOST NETWORK TV SHOWS.