'Walking Dead' record: The zombie show hits a series high
'The Walking Dead' set a record Sunday night with a series-high audience of 12.3 million viewers.
'The Walking Dead' set a record during its last broadcast with a series-high audience of 12.3 million. Actor David Morrissey (pictured) portrays the Governor on the series.
Amy Sussman/Invision/AP
NEW YORK
The zombies keep getting stronger.
AMC's hit "The Walking Dead" set a series record Sunday night with 12.3 million viewers. The show was returning from a hiatus, and the Nielsen Co. said it beats the series' previous record of 10.9 million for its third season debut last October.
More than half of Sunday's viewers, or 7.7 million, were in the youthful demographic of people ages 18 to 49. Nielsen says a cable series has never reached that big an audience in that age group.
That's impressive by broadcast standards, too. While "NCIS" on CBS was the most popular drama on the air with 22 million viewers the previous week, fewer than 5 million of those viewers were under 50.