Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

The Walking Dead season 9 finale receives lowest ratings in show's history

*Warning* Contains spoilers for the Walking Dead season 9 finale

Roisin O'Connor
Wednesday 03 April 2019 08:47 BST
Comments
The Walking Dead 9x16 'The Storm' clip

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The season 9 finale of The Walking Dead was the lowest-rated finale in the show's history, it has been revealed.

According to the Nielsen Live+Same Day ratings, via Variety, the final episode of the show's ninth season averaged a 1.9 rating in adults aged 18 - 49 and 5 million viewers.

While this marked a 20 per cent increase on both counts compared to the previous episode, it showed a 44 per cent decrease in the show's key demographic and 37 per cent in total viewers, compared to the season 8 finale.

It was noted that, regardless, The Walking Dead has seen an average of 52 per cent Live+3 growth among its demographic and 47 per cent in total viewers for the first seven episodes of the second half of the seaosn (for which data is available) – and is still the highest-rated show on cable, and one of the highest-rated scripted TV shows.

The Independent's critic Jacob Stolworthy called the season 9 finale "a far tamer affair" than the previous episode's death-filled outing.

He wrote that the closing scene of the finale appeared to tease what looks like the show's "biggest world expansion yet" – as former Kingdom leader Ezekiel (Khary Payton) walks away as the camera remains fixed on the radio, where an unknown voice is heard saying: "Hello, can you hear me? Is anybody out there?"

The Walking Dead returns to Fox and AMC in October.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in