Season 9 of The Walking Dead was supposed to be a return to form after a somewhat muted reaction to season 8. It seems that this isn’t entirely going to play, though, as the second episode drew a weak 2.0 rating in the crucial 18-49 demographic, bringing in just 4.9 million viewers (that includes live and same day). It’s a pretty damn deep drop for the show, especially considering that the previous low point was way back in season 1 (with a 2.4 rating).
It marks a 20% drop the week after the season premiere, too, which itself had the lowest audience for a premiere since the first season, with a relatively anaemic six million tuning in. But does this spell doom for the show?
Well, AMC are being bullish about the numbers (they usually are), and a big part of their argument is that the first and second episodes of the new season were released on the AMC Premiere service 24 hours ahead of the broadcast. While they don’t provide any specific numbers on how many people watched the show there, they do claim that they’ve broken subscription records for it. But that, frankly, feels a bit like dodging the question.
To put it bluntly, ever-declining ratings doesn’t suggest a healthy longterm prognosis for any TV series, even one as big as The Walking Dead. Could it be that audiences are getting tired of the slow-moving plotlines, with the amount to catch up putting off any new viewers? AMC has announced they have plans for another ten years of the show, but if this downward trend continues, expect them to quickly amend that plan.
Still, after this, it kinda looks like Andrew Lincoln might have picked just the right to time to leave The Walking Dead.
Published: Oct 16, 2018 12:23 pm