THE WALKING DEAD Returns for Season 8 with 100th Episode and 15 Million Total Viewers

AMC's "The Walking Dead" returned for its 100th episode and season eight premiere Sunday night as the #1 show on television for an unprecedented sixth consecutive season, delivering 15 million total viewers, 9.3 million adults 25-54 and 8.8 million adults 18-49 in Nielsen live+3 ratings. The two-hour special episode of "Talking Dead," conducted live in front of 6,000 fans at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, delivered 5 million total viewers, 2.9 million adults 25-54 and 2.7 million adults 18-49 in Nielsen live+3 ratings.

The season premiere of "The Walking Dead" now ranks as the top telecast this broadcast season among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54. "The Walking Dead" continues to significantly out-deliver top shows on fully-distributed broadcast networks like "The Big Bang Theory" and "This is Us."

Program Rankers
A25-54 (000)
Network Program L+3 A25-54 (000) TWD Advantage %
AMC WALKING DEAD 9,288 --
CBS YOUNG SHELDON 8,617 8%
NBC NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL 8,179 14%
CBS BIG BANG THEORY, THE 7,600 22%
NBC THIS IS US 7,147 30%
CBS CBS+NFLN THU NT FOOTBALL 6,683 39%
NBC SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK 5,866 58%
ABC GOOD DOCTOR, THE 5,472 70%
ESPN NFL REGULAR SEASON L 5,436 71%
NBC WILL & GRACE 5,417 71%

A18-49 (000)
Network Program L+3 A18-49 (000) TWD Advantage %
AMC WALKING DEAD 8,815 --
NBC NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL 7,671 15%
CBS YOUNG SHELDON 6,682 32%
NBC THIS IS US 6,210 42%
CBS CBS+NFLN THU NT FOOTBALL 6,111 44%
CBS BIG BANG THEORY, THE 5,790 52%
NBC SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK 5,444 62%
ESPN NFL REGULAR SEASON L 5,208 69%
ABC GOOD DOCTOR, THE 4,718 87%
NBC WILL & GRACE 4,398 100%

"There are only a precious few television programs that can deliver urgent viewing and large, diverse audiences. One hundred episodes after Rick first met Morgan, 'The Walking Dead' continues to do both." said Charlie Collier, president of AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios. "Thank you to the engaged fans around the globe and to Robert Kirkman, Scott M. Gimple, Chris Hardwick and a ton of other walkers, talkers and content hawkers that make it all possible. To our friends, fans and the entire #TWDFamily, welcome to the Century Club."

In addition to the linear viewing, "The Walking Dead" season 8 premiere yielded more than 1.4 million views across all AMC digital platforms and Xfinity during the premiere and subsequent three days, nearly doubling the digital audience of the season seven finale, and increasing 60% compared to the premiere of the second half of season seven in April.

"The Walking Dead" season eight premiere was also a major event on social media, and continues to dominate as the # 1 most social series for the 2017/2018 season-to-date.1.5 million people generated 2.5 million social media interactions across Facebook and Twitter on premiere day. A special livestream of the red carpet arrivals at the premiere event, carried on social platforms including Facebook Live, Twitter and Xbox generated nearly 7.2 million views across all platforms.

Key Nielsen Highlights for the premiere of "The Walking Dead" (L+3)
Episode 801, 9 p.m., Sunday, October 22
15 million viewers, up 31% from live/same day (growth of 3.6 million)
8.8 million Adults 18-49, up 36% from live/same day (growth of 2.3 million)
9.3 million Adults 25-54, up 36% from live/same day (growth of 2.5 million)

Key Nielsen Highlights for the premiere of "Talking Dead" (L+3)
Episode 801, 10:07 p.m. (Two Hour Live Special) Sunday, October 22
5 million viewers, up 18% from live/same day (growth of 746k)
2.7 million Adults 18-49, up 17% from live/same day (growth of 395k)
2.9 million Adults 25-54, up 19% from live/same day (growth of 462k)

Source: Nielsen National NPM Live+3 #1 Series 6 seasons in a row- 9/25/17-10/22/17, 9/19/16-9/24/17, 9/21/15-9/18/16, 9/22/14-9/20/15, 9/23/13-9/21/14; TWD PREM Trackage Su 9p vs Broadcast and Cable (M-Su 8p11p (Start)), excl sports, specials, repeats, gapped, breakouts, sustainers. A18-49 (000)

#1 Telecast Rank: Nielsen, 2017-2018 Broadcast Season To-Date (9/25/17-10/22/17), Broadcast and Cable (M-Su 8p11p (Start)), Live+3 A18-49 (000) and A25-54 (000); excluding repeats, specials, gapped programs, breakouts, sustainers

Program Ranks: Nielsen, 2017-2018 Broadcast Season To-Date (9/25/17-10/22/17), Broadcast and Cable (M-Su 8p11p (Start)), Live+3 A18-49 (000) and A25-54 (000); Program Ranker on both demos excluding repeats, specials, gapped programs, breakouts, sustainers. Note: Walking Dead reflects Premiere trackage only.

Digital and social: Google Analytics/Xfinity CPP, Live+3 Dates: 10/22-10/25/17, platforms include AMC.com, Mobile App, AMC OTT Apps, and Xfinity Web/App. Nielsen Social Content Ratings, Date: 9/25/17 - 10/22/17, ranked on total interactions.

An AMC Studios production, "The Walking Dead" is executive produced by Scott M. Gimple, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert, Greg Nicotero, and Tom Luse.

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