‘Fear the Walking Dead’ opens with record 10.1 million viewers

Like the parent show, The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead, garnered incredible viewership numbers for the premiere and pushes the brand forward for AMC.

The debut reported 10.1 million viewers, with 6.3 million among adults 18-49 for a 4.9 rating. While Deadline notes that the anticipation was high, they gushed over the show’s success.

“Apples to apples is hard here, but compared to the premiere of the mother ship The Walking Dead, which had 5.35 million total viewers and a strong 2.7/7 demo rating for its October 31, 2010, launch, FearTWD already is a big hit.”

Walking Dead fandom is incredible with the record-breaking Season 5 opener of TWD on October 12 last year, which had 17.3 million total viewers and 11 million among the 18-49s for an 8.7 rating. The season 5 finale drew 15.8 million viewers in March, for Fear isn’t quite as big as the parent show….yet.

“The 90-minute FearTWD premiere faced off against the second hour of the Tennessee Titans-St. Louis Rams NFL preseason game on Fox on Sunday night. Just as TWD beat Sunday Night Football five times last year, FearTWD topped the NFL in its debut,” Deadline noted, seeing strong numbers ahead.

Taking place in Los Angeles at the very beginning of the zombie apocalypse, Fear’s first season will run six episodes until October 4, a lead-in to the sixth season of The Walking Dead, which starts the following week.

The 15-episode Season 2 of FearTWD is set to begin in 2016.