"The Walking Dead' started off strong at the start of Season 7 with its premiere episode drawing in an estimated 17 million viewers, the second highest total in the show's history. However, viewership numbers began to decline as the season progressed with most viewers citing the excessive violence used in Negan's execution of Glenn as one of the key reasons why they have been slightly turned off by the show.
Last Sunday, the second half of "The Walking Dead" season 7 returned with episode 9 and it managed to attract an estimated 12 million viewers, according to a report by Deadline.7.3 million of these viewers belonged to the 18-49 demographic, thus, giving the episode a Nielsen rating of 5.7. Viewership is also up by almost 13 percent compared to the midseason finale which aired in December 2016.
This also marks the first time a midseason return episode of "The Walking Dead" has risen in viewership since 2014. However, the 12 million viewers number is down by at least 13 percent compared to the mid-season return of Season 6 which aired in February 2016. One reason for this drop is because the Grammy Awards were being aired on the same night. Last year, the Grammy's were aired on a Monday, but the show still had to contend with the NBA All Star Weekend special and Kobe Bryant's final All Star game as well.
It also worth pointing out that the numbers here are only preliminary and AMC will release figures indicating how well the show performed later in the week, according to a report from Gamespot. "The Walking Dead" has been renewed for an eighth season and is scheduled to start in Fall 2017. It will also feature the show's 100th episode and showrunner Scott Gimple will be coming back to work on the "The Walking Dead" Season 8.
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