Following the brutally violent season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead, the show’s ratings started steadily dropping. It’s hard to say what exactly turned viewers off, but it could have been any number of things. Rick’s passive stance against Negan certainly didn’t make for compelling viewing, while the standalone episodes continued being very hit and miss and far too many needless subplots were thrown our way.
Of course, the series still does more than well enough to stave off any talk of cancellation, but AMC still has to be pleased that The Walking Dead returned to strong ratings this past Sunday. Sure, it’s spent years being the most-watched scripted show on TV in the 18 – 49 demographic, but the fact that ratings were continuously dropping on a weekly basis was certainly concerning for the network.
Last week’s outing, “Rock in the Road,” scored a 5.7 rating in the aforementioned demographic along with over 12 million total viewers, a 13% increase in total viewership compared to the winter finale and a 12% demo increase. This instalment also marked the first time that one of The Walking Dead‘s midseason premieres has topped a winter finale since 2014, a sign that the show is still going strong.
It’s also worth noting that The Walking Dead faced stiff competition from the Grammys and WWE Elimination Chamber, so chances are it will receive an even greater increase next week when it returns with “New Best Friends.” Now that Rick and his fellow survivors are gathering an army to battle the Saviors, we should probably expect things in The Walking Dead to escalate very quickly over the coming weeks, and that means the ratings should only continue to improve from here.
