Season 9 of The Walking Dead has been a dismal effort, ratings-wise, for AMC. As previously reported by the Inquisitr , numbers have been dropping off considerably during Season 9. As a result of this, the current season of The Walking Dead is hitting viewership numbers not seen since Season 1 of the zombie apocalypse series — and that’s not a good thing.
So, how did the series fare in the mid-season finale?
According to Variety , The Walking Dead has “hit a new mid-season finale ratings low for the second year in a row.” The mid-season for Season 8 saw a 3.4 rating as 7.9 million people tuned in. However, the mid-season finale for Season 9 saw a 2.0 rating and a mere 5.1 million watching, according to Nielsen Live+Same Day data. Previously, AMC had seen highs of 14 million viewers for the mid-season finales for Seasons 5 and 6.
Season 9 of The Walking Dead opened with 6.08 million viewers. While not a miserable number compared to other TV series, it was not the best season opener for The Walking Dead by a long shot. In fact, it was the worst season opener since Season 1, which saw 5.35 million people tune in to watch the pilot episode of the series.
Over the course of the first eight episodes of Season 9, the viewership continued to remain low. Episode 2 (titled “The Bridge”) had only 4.95 million people tuning in. The following episodes all hit the low 5 million mark. However, after the announcement by AMC following Episode 3 that there were only two remaining episodes featuring Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), people did start to tune back in. A small bump saw Rick’s final episode receive 5.41 million in viewership on that particular night. People also stayed around to see what would happen in The Walking Dead after Rick had gone. However, it still wasn’t enough to keep viewers watching and Episode 7 saw 4.79 million viewers before picking up slightly, once more, for the mid-season finale episode.
Overall, The Walking Dead managed to lose approximately 1 million from its Season 9 premiere to the mid-season finale.
Even though ratings have been low for The Walking Dead compared to previous seasons, AMC’s original zombie apocalypse series is still far outnumbering other TV series regarding viewership numbers. And, on the night, the mid-season finale was considered the highest viewed cable show. So, it is unlikely AMC will really see this drop in ratings as a serious threat in the upcoming Season 9 return. Although, as the A.V. Club points out, perhaps AMC should be more cautious as they venture into the slew of movies planned for this universe.
Season 9 of AMC’s The Walking Dead will return to AMC on Sunday, February 10, 2019, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
