The Walking Dead Ratings Down Sharply In Season Nine Premiere

After 8 seasons, how many more ways can you kill a zombie anyway?

The ratings for The Walking Dead's Season 9 premiere were a historic low for the series.

Shares in AMC Networks have sagged more than 10% over the past week as Wall Street analysts scrutinize The Walking Dead and what the sizable ratings drop of its ninth-season premiere says about the company's prospects. The Season 9 premiere was also down approximately 50% in the key demo and 47% in total viewers compared to the Season 8 opener, which drew a 5.0 and 11.4 million viewers a year ago. The Season 9 premiere snagged a 2.5 rating in the 18-49 demographic, the lowest rating for a premiere in the demo in the show's history. Even up against broadcast fare, its premiere will rank among the top-five openers this fall among adults under 50 (NBC's This Is Us had a bigger premiere, while Dead tied The Big Bang Theory's rating in the demo). In comparison, the season 8 premiere drew a 5.0 rating and 11.4 million viewers past year.

While the title of the The Walking Dead season 9 premiere may have - in its very title - touted "A New Beginning", said beginning got off to a rough start for the veteran AMC series.

Check out our review of the Season 9 premiere of The Walking Dead, which we called "Great" saying, "Thankfully, for now, the story seems to have taken a few steps back from the outright conspiracy and rebellion that was being cooked up at the end of Season 8; opting instead for a more subtle and believable build in hostilities". The Live+3 and Live+7 numbers will provide a fuller portrait of how the premiere actually did.

In fact, now available on Comcast, YouTubeTV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Apple iOS, AMC Premiere had its best day ever with The Walking Dead's new season opener.