RATINGS WATCH: 10.5 Million People Tune in To ‘The Walking Dead’ Season Finale, A New Basic Cable Record

Records are falling faster than Random Blonde Chicks!

Deadline is reporting that 9 million people tuned in for the 9pm finale of the second season (when you add the two replays in the number rises to 10.5 million). That makes it the most watched episode of a basic cable drama series in history in the 18-49 and 25-54 demos.

The show’s viewership is pretty steadily around the 6 million mark until you hit season premieres and finales when viewership suddenly spikes.

Somewhere, Robert Kirkman is having a really good day.

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 13

  • Total viewers – 10.5 million
  • 9pm airing – 9 million
  • Adults 18-49 – 6 million
  • Adults 25-54 – 5.3 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 12

  • 9pm airing – 6.89 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 11

  • 9pm airing – 6.77 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 10

  • 9pm airing – 7 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 9

  • 9pm airing – 6.89 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 8

  • Total viewers – 10.1 million
  • 9pm airing – 8.1 million
  • Adults 18-49 – 5.4 million
  • Adults 25-54 – 4.4 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 7

  • 9pm airing – 6.6 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 6

  • 9pm airing – 6 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 5

  • 9pm airingĀ – 6.1 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 4

  • 9pm airing – 6.2 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 3

  • 9pm airing – 6.1 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 2

  • 9pm airing – 6.7 million
  • Adults 18-49 – 3.6 million

Ratings for The Walking Dead – Season 2, Episode 1

  • 9pm airing – 7.3 million
  • Adults 18-49 – 4.8 million

 

Talk about the show itself here. Talk about the ratings below.

Comments

  1. Wow – I was worried the death last week would hurt ratings. The character who died seems to have a huge following in non-comic circles. This show, like the book goes from strength to strength

  2. Good for them. I wish there was some way we could see how many sales of the trades/issues/compendiums have been influenced by the show. There seems to be a lot of folks devouring these trades, but ya never can tell with this kinda thing. Obviously it’s impossible to see the stats, but I wish we could.

    • What’s impossible is to know exactly WHY people are picking up THE WALKING DEAD trades, but it’s pretty easy to see that they’re moving a lot of units, even more so since the show premiered.

    • I started watching The Walking Dead during Season 1 and had never read the comics. As my interest in the show rose, so did my curiosity for the source material.
      I just finished Vol. 1 of the trade and I’m looking to pick up the next volume this Wednesday.

      Also, my guess is that this comic series pulls in ‘non-comic readers’. In fact, I have two relatives who do not collect comics per sey, but buy and read the trades.

    • @Conor: Good point. All that really matters is that the collections are selling.

  3. It’s not that it’s the best comic book tv show, it’s the only comic book tv show. (that’s live action)

  4. So I guess this is the record for episodic cable tv shows?

    Because college and pro football games on ESPN have topped way over 10 million before.

    Whatever the exact nature of the record, good for Walking Dead.

    • Okay now I’m reading on another site that an episode of The Closer and an episode of Monk have topped this at least in terms of total viewers (but not in “rating” share, I guess?).

    • i mean 111.3 million watched this year’s superbowl, but you can’t really compare. Sports, Network and Cable all have different expectations. Ratings dictate advertising cash which dictates budgets for a show. its all very complex, but 10.5 mil watching a zombie drama based on a comic book on non HBO cable is a good thing.

  5. I’m looking at the 9pm ratings your providing cause that’s what everyone else is putting in their articles.

    It’s interesting how they averaged in the mid-6 million viewers for the whole way and then BOOM! Suddenly they get an extra three million for the finale. That’s weird. You normally don’t see that large of a spike in viewers for a finale. I mean there are spikes for season openers and finales; but not that large.

    • NextChamp, it may be because during the regular season, people watch it on TVo, on-demand etc…but the endings they like to watch in real time.
      Conner, I believe that the spike in trade buys could be attributed to the fact that viewers keep hearing “it’s different than the comics” or know a TWD comic fan. I’ve personally turned on three non comic friends onto the books.

  6. I know several people who do not read comics, but have started to pick up the WD trades because of the show. One of the things is as brassai says, the books are different so you are getting something similar, yet different. Once more the show seems to be getting back to things we fans of the book have seen, but I’m sure that Kirkman & Co. will put a different spin on those as well.

    It was mentioned on the Talking Dead that we may see the helicopter again, and we know where that led in the comic.