David Alpert, the CEO of Skybound Entertainment, the production company behind AMC' s The Walking Dead, is not worried about the declining ratings of their biggest hit show.
Despite reports in 2017 showing a major decline in ratings for the series since its second season, Alpert remains pretty optimistic. In an interview with Variety, Alpert says:
“I don't think in any way the brand has lost its relevance in general,” he said. “I think we're just seeing a decline in urgency across all media to consume something at a specific time.”
Alpert argues that it is not really ratings for The Walking Dead that have dropped, it is that more people are watching the show on Netflix or on demand. Alpert is confident about the future of The Walking Dead.
“The ability to connect digitally with our fans to find out what they want and serve them content from great creators, media agnostic — it's not a little idea, it's a huge idea,” Alpert said. “We could be the media company for the new millennium.”
Alpert is pretty spot-on. While the mid-season finale was seen live by 7.8 million viewers, which is the lowest since the second season, once DVR viewership was accounted for more than 12 million people watched the show. Moreover, The Walking Dead was the second most pirated series of 2017 and the second most popular show on iTunes in 2017.
All of which is great news for Georgia's film industry as The Walking Dead films approximately an hour outside of the center of Atlanta and employs hundreds of aspiring actors, filmmakers, producers and crew workers.
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