‘The Walking Dead’ season 5 finale, ‘Talking Dead’ set (some) ratings records
“The Walking Dead” continues to defy expectations … including some of our own. We’ll be the first to admit here that we anticipated the ratings for the season 5 finale being down Sunday night, mostly because it has started to feel like the show has peaked. It is hard to keep momentum going five seasons in, especially when you have public opinion so divided about the Alexandria story. We’ve heard from some who welcome the story as a change of pace, but others who have found it lifeless and lacking.
What matters most to AMC at the end of the day are the numbers, and the zombie drama did set a finale record with 15.8 million viewers and 10.4 million of them in the 18-49 demographic. This equals an 8.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic. Want to know something astounding? The top scripted show on broadcast TV last night was “Once Upon a Time” with a 1.7 rating. This means that “The Walking Dead” drew almost five times the demo audience. Stunning.
While it may be the strongest finale to date for “The Walking Dead,” it failed to match the season premiere’s 8.7 rating. We’re not sure we will ever see that number again. With the spin-off “Fear the Walking Dead” (see the promo here) airing this summer, there may not be the same sort of longing and anticipation anymore. Sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing and they seem to be on the path of beating this show into the dirt. Regardless, AMC probably doesn’t care too much at this point. It is a monster hit, and so long as it continues to be one of the top-rated shows on TV, very little will change.
For those curious, “Talking Dead” did achieve its highest-rated episode ever with 7.5 million viewers and almost 5 million in the 18-49 demographic. The fact that almost half of the flagship’s audience are tuning in to watch an inexpensive talk show after the fact is something that network executives are probably celebrating with a conga line and some of that chocolate pudding in a can that Carl found.
We’ve had a great stream of “Walking Dead” coverage over the past couple of days, and you can see all of it (including season 6 speculation) at the link here. Also, sign up to acquire some further TV spoilers via our weekly CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: AMC.)