The bad ratings news continues for “The Walking Dead” in the wake of Sunday night’s mid-season finale, a damn good (and genuinely scary, for a change) episode that pulled in record low viewers for the series. The numbers are in this morning, and “Evolution” was watched live by 5.1 million total viewers, up from last week but seriously down from previous finales.
For the sake of comparison, here are the episode-by-episode numbers for Season 9:
- 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
- Episode 9.8 *Mid-Season Finale* – 5.1 million
The previous low for mid-season finale viewership was in Season 2, when that season’s mid-season finale drew in 6.62 million viewers. The most watched mid-season finale in the series’ history was in Season 5, when the November 30, 2014 episode was watched by 14.81 million.
Season by season, here are all the show’s mid-season finale numbers:
- Season 2 – 6.62 million
- Season 3 – 10.48 million
- Season 4 – 12.05 million
- Season 5 – 14.81 million
- Season 6 – 13.98 million
- Season 7 – 10.58 million
- Season 8 – 7.89 million
- Season 9 – 5.1 million
One could easily blame the departure of Andrew Lincoln for the show’s ratings troubles, but the reality is, ratings were steadily declining long before Rick’s final episode. The drop in viewership from Season 7 to Season 9, for example (highlighted above), has been steep and significant, and it’s mostly overall fatigue with the long-running series that’s to blame.
At this point, despite Angela Kang show-running the series into fresh, exciting territory, it may be too little too late for a show that’s been around for this long. One has to wonder how much lower the ratings will get before AMC starts to get cold feet about franchise expansions, but it’s of course always worth noting that even 5 million viewers sure isn’t bad for any show on TV.
That said, “The Walking Dead” is now a FAR cry from its ratings heights.
