Season 9 of AMC’s The Walking Dead has been a ratings disaster. As previously reported by the Inquisitr , the series has been hitting some pretty disastrous milestones when it comes to viewership numbers this season.
While the ratings for The Walking Dead has been dropping for a while now, in Season 9, the AMC series has managed to plummet to lows not seen since Season 1 of the zombie apocalypse series.
Things seemed to be on the good side in the lead up to Rick Grimes’ (Andrew Lincoln) final episode. AMC made an announcement after Episode 3 of The Walking Dead Season 9 informing viewers that there were only two more episodes featuring Rick Grimes. The following week, with Episode 4, things started to pick up. While only 5.04 million viewers tuned into Episode 3, with the airing of Episode 4, there was the first shift upwards in viewers with 5.10 million tuning in for Rick’s penultimate episode. Then, when Episode 5 — Rick’s final episode — aired, 5,41 million fans tuned in. This number then stayed steady for Episode 6, which was the first episode without Rick as well as being the first episode after a six-year time jump in the series.
For many critics, though, the real test would likely come with Episode 7 of The Walking Dead . After all, fans had already found out what had happened to Rick as well as how the communities fared after his departure. And, for those who suspected viewership would drop once more, you are absolutely right.
According to TV By The Numbers , 4.794 million viewers tuned in to Episode 7 of The Walking Dead Season 9.
In addition, Bloody Disgusting has broken down the ratings per episode of Season 9 of The Walking Dead .
- Episode 9.1 – 6.08 million
- Episode 9.2 – 4.95 million
- Episode 9.3 – 5.04 million
- Episode 9.4 – 5.10 million
- Episode 9.5 *Rick’s Final Episode* – 5.41 million
- Episode 9.6 – 5.4 million
- Episode 9.7 – 4.8 million (rounded up from 4.794 million)
As you can see, not only did viewership for Episode 8 drop considerably, it also hit a record low for Season 9. In fact, the viewership for Episode 7 is the lowest for the entire series according to Comic Book .
The overall rating for Episode 7 of The Walking Dead Season 9 was 1.8 in the all-important 18 to 49 demographic. Once again, this was lower than in previous episodes.
So, it will be interesting to see whether Season 9 of The Walking Dead can be saved or if this downward trend is here to stay. Regardless of these ratings woes, The Walking Dead is still considered one of the most-watched shows on TV.
Season 9 of The Walking Dead returns to AMC with the mid-season finale, Episode 8 (titled “Evolution”), on Sunday, November 25. AMC lists the following synopsis for this episode.
“A small rescue mission braves a dangerous herd in their hunt for a missing comrade, only to discover a surprising threat that could doom them all.”
