The Walking Dead‘s debut on MyNetworkTV last night scored the best demo premiere for the programming service in six seasons. Versus the year-ago premiere of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on Wednesday night in the time slot, the AMC zombie drama is up 13% in households (0.9 vs. 0.8) and up 67% in the demo (0.5 vs. 0.3).
Compared with September 2013, Walking Dead jumped 150% in the demo. In New York (WWOR), the 9 PM telecast climbed 125% in the demo compared with October 2013 in the slot and 350% better than September 2013 with L&O: CI.
In Los Angeles (KCOP), the 9 PM telecast of TWD spiked 125% in A18-49 over October 2013 average with L&O:CI and 800% over September 2013 with Numbers.
Among 18- to 49-year-old guys, The Walking Dead grew the time slot across the board: up 100% vs. May 2014, up 200% vs September 2013 and up 100% versus October 2013.
In June, MyNetworkTV unveiled its fall lineup, including new additions Walking Dead and CBS’ The Mentalist. The network announced in March it had acquired off-network rights to the blockbuster zombie drama. The Walking Dead, the highest-rated scripted series on TV in adults 18-49, will run two episodes from Seasons 1-3 back-to-back on one night a week. The network is expected to get access to subsequent seasons. The Walking Dead will air on Wednesday nights and The Mentalist on Thursday nights. In addition, Law & Order: SVU returns with back-to-back episodes on Monday nights, Law & Order: CI is back on Tuesday nights, while the two-hour block of Fox series Bones shifts to Friday nights.
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