NBC’s Sunday Night Football has already taken ratings hits this season down 15% overall from last season. But when you add the season 7 premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead to the mix, it’s not a surprise that SNF took another hit.

The ratings phenomenon that is TWD won its timeslot over all competition on both broadcast and cable with an overall viewership of 17 million viewers and an 8.4 rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic. And in the 25-54 demo, The Walking Dead S7 kickoff which saw another two characters killed, the show registered an impressive 8.7 rating which is a record.

As for the Seattle-Arizona 6-6 tie which excruciating and painful to watch, NBC garnered an 11.6 overnight rating. In the 18-49 category, SNF averaged a 5.4 rating and a preliminary average of 15.89 million viewers.

One silver lining for NBC is that Sunday’s overtime game actually improved from the previous week’s Indianapolis-Houston game which received a 9.0 overnight rating. That game faced tough competition from Game 2 of the NLCS on FS1.

Had the NLCS gone seven games, SNF’s rating would most likely have been much lower.

The fact that The Walking Dead can do so well against the NFL shows that the series not only holds its own against SNF, but can beat the NBC package as well. We’ve chronicled how well TWD has done against sports whether it’s the World Series, the NBA All-Star Game, or the NFL itself.

With the show already renewed for an 8th season and still going very strong (how many characters are left now?), it seems that The Walking Dead still has the legs to take a bite of sports

[Sports Media Watch/Variety]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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