Ratings for AMC’s “Fear the Walking Dead” held up pretty well in its second week Sunday, despite tough competition from MTV’s Video Music Awards.
According to Nielsen estimates, Sunday’s episode averaged a 4.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 8.2 million viewers overall — down 16% in the demo and 19% in total viewers vs. last week’s premiere, which set all-time ratings records for a cable launch in both adults 18-49 (4.9 rating) and total viewers (10.31 million). The premiere telecast, which aired simultaneously around the world, also set global ratings records for the newly launched AMC Global Networks.
Since the March season finale of Fox’s “Empire” did a whopping 6.9 rating on March 18, the only other ad-supported entertainment series to draw a higher 18-49 same-night rating than last night’s “Fear the Walking Dead” was “The Walking Dead” itself (7.0 and 8.2 for its final two episodes of season five).
See More: ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ Episode 2 Recap: Lights Out in East L.A.
In “live plus-3” estimates, “Fear the Walking Dead” rose by 37% in 18-49 rating (6.7 vs. 4.9) and by 32% in total viewers (13.3 million vs. 10.1 million) from its “live plus same-day” ratings, according to Nielsen. There’s a good chance, AMC will be reporting higher DVR playback gains for “Fear” this week due in part to stronger live competition from the VMA Awards.
Ratings for MTV’s telecast of the VMA Awards will be released Tuesday by Nielsen. It drew roughly 9.8 million viewers for its simulcast on ten Viacom networks, according to preliminary reports.
