'Walking Dead' Ratings: Tracking the Dead

'Walking Dead' Ratings: Tracking the Dead There's no question that "The Walking Dead" is the hottest thing on television right now. The first three episodes of the series' fourth season have been, by far, the most-watched episodes of the series, and the show is drawing enough viewers to dominate its competition on both cable and broadcast networks. Ratings for the season, however, have been ticking downward week-to-week, and although observers don't think there's any need for concern, it's a trend that bears watching.

The season premiere of "Walking Dead" was a ratings blockbuster, drawing 16.1 million total viewers, a figure that was 30% higher than the series' previously highest-rated episode. The second episode of season four drew 13.9 million viewers, still a very big number but one that was off 14% from the debut episode. The season's third episode, which aired on October 27, delivered 12.9 million viewers, a drop of 7% from the previous week and a fall-off of 24% from the season premiere episode.

"The Walking Dead" is still an indisputable powerhouse, and it's outperforming every other entertainment program on TV. It's especially strong in the coveted young-adult demographic, and last week's episode handily beat out traditionally high-rated baseball and football broadcasts. As long as the series' ratings numbers stay huge, there's no need for alarm, but someone, somewhere has to be wondering why the show has dropped a quarter of its audience within three weeks.