Despite remaining the most-watched Sunday night cable TV series, The Walking Dead has reached another new low in terms of overall viewers. For the third time in as many weeks, AMC’s biggest draw has set another series-worst mark for ratings.
The steady decline has been going on for a while now and unfortunately, it doesn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon. The audience numbers have been tumbling for the past couple of seasons, but the first three episodes of season 10 have really highlighted the public’s growing disinterest in a show that was once can’t-miss television.
Last Sunday night’s episode, entitled “Ghosts,” saw just 3.48 million people tune in to the live broadcast. This earned a mere 1.2 rating in the coveted 18-49 demographic, which isn’t anywhere near where the showrunners were hoping it would be. The latest rating is down from the 1.3 rating in the previous week, too, which is down again from the season 10 premiere earlier this fall.
AMC has to be hoping that the darling of their network will turn things around soon, considering all of the time, money and energy they’ve invested in the series and the spinoffs set in the same universe. Both The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead have been renewed for additional seasons in 2020 and AMC has also ordered a third series set in the post-apocalyptic zombie world, which is set to arrive on the cable channel next year. On top of all of that, at least one feature film is currently in the pipeline.
If people are getting tired of zombies and survivors, then AMC’s going to have a lot of projects to cancel. Hopefully, then, the ratings will turn around soon as new episodes of The Walking Dead continue to premiere Sundays at 9PM Eastern Time.