Walking Dead S5 Premiere Better Ratings Than Sunday Night Football

[Tugg Speedman]

When was the last time the NFL was not the number 1 show in its time slot?  Let alone is "marquee game" on Sunday Night?

The beginning of the end of the NFL?  Did Chicos grossly overpay for NFL rights?  (Just having fun CBB!)

http://deadline.com/2014/10/walking-dead-ratings-premiere-season-5-amc-850319/

[MU82]

That was some Walking Dead episode. Damn good and very edge-of-seat exciting, but also one of the bloodier things I have seen on TV. And I have seen every episode of Walking Dead, Sopranos, Sons of Anarchy, etc, etc. Hell, that might have been bloodier than any Dexter or True Blood -- two series that were all about blood!

[reinko]

Wonder if the NFL is the cattle or the butcher.

[brandx]

When was the last time the NFL was not the number 1 show in its time slot?  Let alone is "marquee game" on Sunday Night?

The beginning of the end of the NFL?  Did Chicos grossly overpay for NFL rights?  (Just having fun CBB!)

http://deadline.com/2014/10/walking-dead-ratings-premiere-season-5-amc-850319/

And, beaten by a cable network.

Specifically, it doesn't mean a lot - but a few years down the road there will be people saying, "Why didn't we see this happening?"

[RushmoreAcademy]

Good episode.  I saw in the preview for next week that they are introducing the preacher from the comics.

[ChicosBailBonds]

When was the last time the NFL was not the number 1 show in its time slot?  Let alone is "marquee game" on Sunday Night?

The beginning of the end of the NFL?  Did Chicos grossly overpay for NFL rights?  (Just having fun CBB!)

http://deadline.com/2014/10/walking-dead-ratings-premiere-season-5-amc-850319/

You mean over that blowout game 27-0 (thought that only happened on Thursdays)?      

Actually, Walking Dead finished second to Sunday Night football in total number.  A little over 17.3M saw Walking Dead, a little over 18M saw the blowout NFL game.  The numbers are revised two days after the initial read, and the NFL won out.  Many articles are touting the demo of 18-49, but that is not overall viewership.   Don't get me wrong, this is not a surprise...Walking Dead has done this with their premier each of the last two years...finishing in second each year to the NFL, but still doing very well.  So much so that AMC is playing games right now.....

More importantly for the NFL, the Cowboys are back and that is great for the NFL because people love or hate them and will watch to see them win or lose.  They did a monster 17.4 rating with 30 million HH, which was double the Walking Dead rating almost double in viewers.  The Cowboys game was the highest rated show of any kind in 2014 since the Academy Awards.  It was a 19 year high for a regular season game for Fox.   Long story short, the NFL continues to own the ratings week in and week out and if the Cowboys hold up, the networks are going to be going crazy with record numbers.  If they hold up.