'The Walking Dead' Was 2017's Most-Watched Show In Key Demo

The Walking Dead is still the most-watched show on cable.

To end 2017, the AMC zombie drama earned a 7.0 rating in the key 18-49 demographic and lands at the top of the ratings chat with only Sunday Night Football there to compete according to Nielsen's live-plus-7 stats. The Walking Dead hauled in 9.02 million viewers on average in the demo. Sunday Night Football averaged a 6.4 rating with 8.22 million viewers.

Behind both programs is HBO's Game of Thrones which aired its penultimate 7-episode season over the summer to an average rating of a 6.2 with 8.02 million viewers. Trailing the top three are This Is Us (5.1, 6.60 million), The Big Bang Theory (4.6, 5.91 million), and Thursday Night Football (4.5, 5.83 million), in that order.

A considerable portion of The Walking Dead's audience is coming from post-broadcast views with the live numbers sliding as low as a total audience of 7.47 million viewers on December. Episode 8x07 had a 3.3 rating in the key demo for its live broadcast, the lowest of Season 8, but has clearly seen a significant boost in later viewings.

The AMC series ranks eighth in total audience among all shows with 14.8 million viewers in the live-plus-7 stats.

The controversial decision to kill a core character in Episode 8x08 will likely boost the midseason finale's post-broadcast viewings in the wake of a massive buzz while possibly prompting more fans to tune in for the midseason 8 premiere.

Sitting atop the charts for the sixth year in a row, The Walking Dead retains the undisputed king of cable title and its unprecedented run continues.

The Walking Dead returns for the second half of its eighth season on February 25, 2018. For complete coverage and insider info all season long, follow @BrandonDavisBD on Twitter.

(via AdWeek)