The Walking Dead Breaks Viewing Record

The season two premiere was the most-viewed drama on a US basic cable channel ever

The Walking Dead returned in spectacular form to US television on Sunday with a recordbreaking 7.3 million viewers – the biggest ever audience for a drama ever in US basic cable channel history. Season one was averaging 5.2 million for its initial broadcast, so that’s quite some uplift.

In fact, over all its airings (it was repeated at 10.30 and 12.30 on catch up services) the season two premiere amassed over 11 million viewers.

“The Walking Dead is one of those rare television programs that reaches both a core genre fan as well as broad audiences simply looking for a great, character-based story,” said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, the cable channel that airs The Walking Dead in the States. “We’re so proud of and grateful for the amazing team on both sides of the camera who works so hard and is so committed to making this a unique programming event. That The Walking Dead is now the most watched drama in the history of basic cable is staggering, just like our zombies.”

We bet FX is hoping for a similar result when the episode premieres on Friday over here in the UK.