The Walking Dead Season 7 Premiere Ratings Hit 17 Million Viewers

The Walking Dead returned to AMC for Season 7 on Sunday night and now the ratings are in. The Season 7 premiere shows a 16 percent increase in ratings from The Walking Dead Season 6 premiere.

The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere episode scored an 8.4 rating among viewers ages 18-49 and was watched by 17 million viewers.

Though up from Season 6, the much-hyped The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere came in just shy of the series' overall record. The Walking Dead Season 5 premiere in 2014 still holds that record, with 17.3 million total viewers and an 8.7 rating.

The Walking Dead Season 6 ended on a cliffhanger that had fans guessing which one of their favorite characters was going to die at the end of Negan's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat, Lucille. The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere episode, titled "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be," delivered more answers to that question than most fans were expecting.

While The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere didn't break any series records, the episode did manage to claim a rating record for a specific region of the state of Florida.

It will be interesting to see how much The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere gains in delayed viewing. Typically The Walking Dead sees a significant gain in live+3, but many fans are likely to have watched live to avoid having the identity of Negan's kill spoiled for them. This, perhaps, accounts for the significant rating gain over The Walking Dead's Season 6 premiere, which had declined from Season 5.

In addition to punching every fan of the series right in the gut, The Walking Dead Season 7 premiere also pushed the limits of televised gore and violence, attracting the ire of the Parents Television Council.

The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.