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TWD’s Ratings Dip Defended by Producer

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3 January 2018

By Alex Khalil

Season 8 of AMC’s The Walking Dead has hit its lowest ratings yet, prompting the shows producer David Alpert to say a few words.

The first half of the current season has seen its lowest figures since 2011. Alpert told Variety that looking at the figures is misleading to show how popular the series is.

“I don’t think in any way the brand has lost its relevance in general. I think we’re just seeing a decline in urgency across all media to consume something at a specific time, I still get people coming up to me at conventions talking about, they’re in the middle of season six. They can’t believe what’s going on.”

It is true that the live broadcast figures only tell part of the story. These don’t consider how many people watch on demand or on streaming services. This is especially true for series like Game of Thrones, which is also available on demand. The Walking Dead did add around an extra 3.6 million viewers to its mid-season finale last month, when DVR numbers were considered.

When the show began, people were stunned by how gripping and tense the story was. The focus was on the people more than the zombies.

AMC’s poster series has seen a steady decline in viewers over the last few years. The drop off point seems to be mid-way through Season 2, where literally nothing happened. The numbers there would be 7.9 million viewers. It saw a sharp rise however in 2016 at the shows mid-season finale of Season 7, at 10.8 million viewers.

Consensus from quitting viewers seems to be that the same thing keeps happening. Zombies attack, then they get away and run into human conflict, then they run into some zombies. The story follows the same points each season. It’s understandable that some would be turned off. The first season was out there and nw, but since then it’s become a predictable pattern of plot points.

The show will return in February. Whether anyone will watch it remains to be seen.

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