Continuing on its ratings streak, the Season 7 shocker debut of The Walking Dead saw a 34% ratings growth internationally, marking the highest-rated launch in international distributor Fox Networks’ history. The opener’s growth was measured across 28 markets in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America where performance metrics were available overnight.
Launched simultaneously as the domestic broadcast on Sunday, which saw 17 million tune into AMC’s zombie apocalypse blockbuster, this year’s premiere was 37% higher than its equivalent Season 6 episode in Europe. It over-performed this year’s Fox channel primetime average eight-fold and saw huge growth in key markets such as Italy (+78%), UK (+59%) and Netherlands (+35%). The UK debut drew 1.43 million viewers.
Across six Asia-Pacific markets where data was available at the time, this year’s premiere audience grew by 25% compared to its equivalent season 6 epsiode. Key markets were up such as Singapore (+14%), Malaysia (+13%) and The Philippines (+57%) and ranked Fox as the top English payTV channel for the timeslot.
Performance in Latin America, where Fox launched The Walking Dead on a premium pay service simultaneously with the U.S. broadcast, was up an average of 17% across premium and basic pay when compared to Season 6’s “First Time Again” episode. Brazil was up a whopping 94%, marking Fox’s highest rating in the territory in the last six year while Mexico was up 359% versus channel slot average.
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