Undead Walking
Fansided

The Walking Dead is still the highest rated show on television

By Sonya Iryna

Katelyn Nacon as Enid, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene, Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha Williams - The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 8 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Katelyn Nacon as Enid, Chandler Riggs as Carl Grimes, Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Lauren Cohan as Maggie Greene, Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa, Danai Gurira as Michonne, Sonequa Martin-Green as Sasha Williams - The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 8 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /
facebooktwitterreddit

Don’t let click bait titles fool you Walking Dead fans. The Walking Dead ratings are still the highest on television and this season is just getting started.

The first half of Season 7 has been controversial for The Walking Dead. The brutal deaths of Glenn and Abe let some viewers to abandon the show. Some even called for a boycott. Clearly, that’s not working.

But all season long many sites have been proclaiming AMC’s zombie survival drama to losing viewers by the millions. Alarmist headlines said that the show was doomed. Or that the show was fading fast because of falling ratings. But that’s not true.

The Walking Dead has continued to have stellar ratings throughout the season. According to the official AMC press release about the ratings each episode has averaged 16 million views. That’s consistent with the Live+3 and Live+7 ratings that have been reported all season.

Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Lindsley Register as Laura - The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 8 - Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Lindsley Register as Laura – The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 8 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC /

Each episode picked up around 4 million views once the Live+3 ratings were tallied. And each episode picked up a few million more when the Live+7 views were counted. The Live+3 average per episode was 14 million viewers. The Live+7 average per episode was 16 million viewers.

That puts The Walking Dead at the top of the TV ratings once again. Season 7’s success makes the show the #1 show on television for an impressive fifth straight year. And the second half of this season looks to be even more exciting than the first.

“Hearts Still Beating” Ratings

Even before the Live+7 ratings for the midseason finale “Hearts Still Beating” are collected it’s still a ratings smash. The midseason finale picked up an impressive 6.5 million gain in Live+3 views. That makes “Hearts Still Beating” the second highest rated episode of the season so far.

More from Undead Walking

In comparison the Season 6 midseason finale, “Start To Finish”, had just under 14 million viewers total. And the Season 5 midseason finale, “Coda”, had just under 15 million views in the Live+7 ratings.

The ratings for “Hearts Still Beating” are comparable to past midseason finales. There isn’t a noticeable drop in ratings for The Walking Dead Season 7.

Get Ready For Season 7B

The first half of Season 7 has been a tough emotional journey for fans. But the payoff is coming. Team Family is together again. Rick is ready to fight Negan. Maggie and Sasha are ready to stage a coup at Hilltop and take over. All the pieces are coming together for an epic war against Negan and the Saviors.

The Walking Dead may have fewer views when the episodes air on Sunday nights. But that isn’t a good measure of the popularity of the show. Millions of people don’t watch live TV anymore. They watch on DVR. They watch episodes online or on mobile devices. But they are watching.

Next: 5 questions we have after episode 708

TV ratings for all shows, not just genre shows, are down by an average of 10% across the board. But The Walking Dead is still the most popular show on TV.

Home/The Walking Dead