Despite being one of the most watched TV shows, it appears that The Walking Dead season 7 has been experience a rather sharp decline in ratings. In fact, the decline of the AMC series has been so fast that the most recent episode of the show’s ratings had lower ratings than some episodes from Season 3.
Despite the controversy of the Season 6 cliffhanger, AMC proved that intrigued is a sure-fire way to gain viewers when 17.03 million people tuned into learn who Negan’s victim was in the Season 7 premiere. Those numbers made Season 7 Episode 1 the second most-watched episode of the entire series, runner up only to the Season 5 premiere which had 17.29 million viewers in 2014.
However, those ratings highs quickly declined for the show, which 12.5 million people viewing Episode 2, The Well, and 11.72 million people watching an emotionally destroyed Daryl in Episode 3, The Cell. Episode 4, Service, fared no better with 11.4 million tuning, and finally this week in Episode 5, Go Getters the decline continued with 11 million tuning. Ratings comparable to Season 3, Episode 15 which had 10.99 million viewers three years ago.
While The Walking Dead is still the most watched show on television, the sharp decline in ratings could be a sign that audiences may finally be over with the zombie drama. However, it could also have something to do with the less action packed episodes the show has produced since the season 7 premiere.
The last four episodes of The Walking Dead have jumped around from one group of survivors to another, and have put more of a focus on character and plot development, instead of opting for more action sequences.
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