Ratings Battle: 'Walking Dead' vs. Miley Cyrus

Sunday night was a battle ground, and not just on the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards. There was also a battle for young viewers as the VMA broadcast went head-to-head with the second episode of Fear The Walking Dead on AMC. When the dust settled, it was not entirely clear who the winner was.

In terms of total viewers, the VMAs likely came out ahead, according to early estimates. Those numbers say that the show pulled in about 9.8 million viewers.

Fear the Walking Dead was a formidable foe, however. The debut of the series last week set a ratings record by drawing over 10 million viewers, and there was little chance that it would be able to maintain those numbers after the excitement of the series premiere wore off. But the second episode didn't fare too badly. It drew 8.2 million total viewers, which is nearly a 20 percent drop from last week but still very respectable.

Expect the numbers to rise above these early estimates, especially for Fear the Walking Dead. The series is likely to do very well when its ratings are adjusted to include DVR playback. Given that viewer response to the second episode has been generally more positive than it was for the first episode, it's likely that there will a ratings bump for the third episode, too.