Ratings record for ‘Walking Dead’

The Nielsen Company says the 17.3 million people who watched the fifth season opener of The Walking Dead on Sunday is a record both for the show and for a cable television programme. The show airs in the UAE on Fox Movies on Mondays at 7.30pm.

Nielsen said that represented the biggest audience ever for a single non-sports programme on cable TV. The AMC drama beat its previous record audience of 16.1 million for the fourth season opener last October.

The Walking Dead also had a staggering 11 million viewers among 18-to-49-year-olds, considered most valuable to advertisers. That beats every other scripted show on TV this season, with CBS’ premiere of The Big Bang Theory coming closest with 6.9 million in that demographic.