The Walking Dead Hits Series Low Ratings

About half-way into season 9, AMC's The Walking Dead has hit another all-time ratings low, and it's unclear if the downward trend can be reversed. Many factors play into a TV network's decision to cancel or renew a show, but for the most part, the ratings are the most important element in play. If a show draws poor viewership, it's chances of getting the axe instantly become much higher. Less viewers means less people seeing ads, and that naturally means less money rs are willing to pay networks to during the show in question.

It seems like a simple formula, and many times it is. Oddly enough though, the more The Walking Dead continues to plummet in the ratings, the more plans AMC announces for the franchise. AMC has made it known they want to create additional spinoffs beyond the years-long time jump that occurred later in that episode.

While The Walking Dead's ratings have been steadily declining since season 7, this past Sunday's episode - entitled "Stradivarius," and the second to air after Rick's departure - fell to a new series low, according to Spoiler TV. The episode earned a 1.8 rating in the r-prized 18-49 viewer demographic, and drew in 4.79 million total viewers. That's an about 11 percent drop from last week's 2.02 in the demo and 5.39 million total viewers.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan in jail cell in The Walking Dead Season 9

Overall, The Walking Dead's season 9 average in the 18-49 demo is 2.03, a nearly 40 percent drop from season 8's average. Its total audience average for season 9 is 5.25 million viewers per episode, which is about a 33 percent drop from season 8. Considering though that Walking Dead has yet to take its annual midseason break, it's likely season 9's average ratings will fall a considerable amount further before the season finale airs in early 2019.

What's most frustrating about this continued free fall of Walking Dead's ratings is that by most s, Negan's factions consumed way too much of the show, lasting for two entire seasons. Those that left due to that are unlikely to return to the fold, and with Rick and Maggie now gone, lots more fans are likely to keep exiting. For now though, AMC still claims not to care about the ratings.