The Walking Dead opener delivers best ever ratings

The debut of the new season AMC’s zombie series The Walking Dead has smashed its previous ratings records, notching 12.3 million viewers.

The new season debuted on February 10 in a 9pm slot.

The ratings number compares with a previous record for the show of 10.9 million, for last season’s premiere.

AMC said the opening episode of zombie show is the strongest telecast for a series in basic cable

“When you look at numbers like this, the first thing that comes to mind is how grateful we are to the fans of this show. They embrace The Walking Dead in a way that we wanted to believe was possible but we never take for granted,” said Charlie Collier, AMC’s president.

AMC followed the new episode of The Walking Dead with spin-off behind the scenes show The Talking Dead.

In the 10pm slot on AMC, the hour-long live show garnered 4.1 million viewers.

Internationally, The Walking Dead airs first on Fox International Channels.