Based upon an on-going comic book series by the same name, AMC’s successful 2010 launch of “The Walking Dead” has now officially reached television mega-hit status, capturing dozens of awards (and near-automatic season renewals) as its TV ratings and shares continue to rise year after year:

You’ve got to hand it to the program schedulers at AMC. 

Exactly one week prior to the  series premiere of “The Walking Dead”, they scheduled a two hour plus movie, “28 Days Later” on Sunday, October 24^th, 2010. It is NOT a coincidence that the AMC brain trust reached back for this 2002 British post-apocalyptic horror film based on a virus that led to societal breakdown, and is now credited with “resurrecting” the zombie horror fiction genre.

Clearly, AMC was greasing the skids for its next Sunday, October 31^st launch of their brand-spanking new series, “The Walking Dead” which “just happens” to be set in a post-apocalyptic world of flesh-eating zombies.

But maybe – just maybe – the AMC executives didn’t quite realize just how well they were “greasing the skids”! According to Rentrak, “28 Days Later” pulled down a respectable .43 U.S. HH rating (and .58 HH share), but neither of these figures stand out in the context of AMC’s overall primetime performance back then in the early Fall of 2010.

But that all changed with “The Walking Dead”. Its premiere episode (“Days Gone Bye”) more than quadrupled the prior Sunday horror movie, pulling down a 1.9 U.S. HH Rating and a 2.6 share. And since that auspicious launch a little more than three and a half years ago, this AMC mega-hit series has never looked back:

Since its Year 1 season of six episodes, “The Walking Dead” doubled the number of episodes in season 2, and then upped the ante a little more in seasons 3 & 4 with sixteen episodes each. But the increase in content didn’t lead to viewer wear out or discontent. Hardly! This past season, “The Walking Dead” delivered an average audience of 4.2 Million Homes — doubling its first season delivery:

The sheer magnetic audience draw of “The Walking Dead” can be seen in its Season 4 premiere episode, “30 Days Without an Accident”, which aired on Sunday, October 13^th, 2013. While its Live U.S. HH rating (4.7) and share (5.6) are very impressive in their own right, perhaps even more impressive is a comparison with the series airing in “The Walking Dead” timeslot just prior to the start of Season 4.

We’re not referring to some filler AMC programming, but rather the multi award-winning series, “Breaking Bad”, which was in the midst of its final season run that climaxed with its 62^nd and final episode on Sunday Night, September 29^th, and received its highest rating ever! But that was no match for “The Walking Dead”:

Fans of “The Walking Dead” just can’t seem to get enough of their show as their DVR activity is proves.

Viamedia has estimated that – for the entire cable industry – DVR activity (out to 15 days) raises Total Day audience levels approximately 14% over and above Live-Only viewing. Compare that with the Primetime Season 4 premiere of “The Walking Dead”, which delivered a Live Primetime average audience of ~5.5 Million HHs, and then added an astounding Live+15 Day audience of ~12.9 Million homes – a DVR lift north of +130%!

Just to be sure this mega-DVR activity was not simply an artifact of the highly anticipated Season 4 Premiere, we took a look at all 8 episodes of “The Walking Dead” that aired during the 4^th Quarter, 2013. Live-only viewing was ~4.2 Million HHs, and by 15 days out, DVR usage raised that figure to an astounding 11+ Million HHs:  

To get a sense of how “The Walking Dead” performs locally, we combined the first five episodes from the start of last season. Nationally, these episodes delivered an estimated weight-average HH delivery of 4.5 Million homes – good for a U.S. HH rating of 3.9 / 4.7 Share.

If you believe plot location can skew local market viewing, then “The Walking Dead” has had a profound impact on regional viewing levels. The show’s first season takes place in the Atlanta metropolitan area, and perhaps it is not so surprising that the Atlanta DMA rating of 5.4 is 40% higher than the national average.

But after Season 1, the action moves to northern Georgia, where the survivors flee from the predatory zombies. If you look at a map, and trace a line about 120 miles North-by-Northwest – just 5 miles or so over the border in Tennessee — you’ll come across the fourth largest city in Tennessee, Chattanooga. This DMA is simply off the charts when it comes to watching “The Walking Dead” – pulling down (by far) the highest rating out of 200+ DMAs – 8.5. That’s more than double the national average!

Indeed, if you draw an arc around Atlanta, stretching from the northwest to the northeast, you will capture “The Walking Dead’s” highest viewing markets, with an unusual concentration in the State of Tennessee:

After airing three new episodes at the start of Season 4, AMC announced in late October that “The Walking Dead” would be renewed for a fifth season. That didn’t take long. Several recurring fictional characters from Season four (such as the emotionally broken “Abraham Ford”; the faux-scientist, “Eugene Porter” and the beautiful and provocative, “Rosita Espinosa”) have now been promoted to regular cast members in Season 5, scheduled to debut in October. They, along with numerous others, join main protagonist “Rick Grimes” in what promises to be another blockbuster season.

— Written By: Jonathan Sims, VP Media Research, Viamedia