Oscar ceremony slays The Walking Dead in the ratings

walking deadUS network ABC’s coverage of the Academy Awards convincingly knocked zombie series The Walking Dead (pictured) off its ratings perch.

The red carpet coverage immediately ahead of the ceremony won 26.9 million viewers in total and 8.8 million viewers in the 18-49 demographic according to Nielsen. The coverage of the Oscar ceremony itself garnered 43.7 million overall and 16.6 million in the 18-49s.

The ceremony coverage started at 8.30pm giving it a head start on The Walking Dead on cable net AMC, which started at 9pm.

The apocalyptic zombie drama consistently wins the Sunday ratings, beating all cable and network competition. However, last Sunday it was resoundingly beaten with 12.6 million viewers overall and 8.1 million 18-49s.

Outside of the Oscars coverage and The Walking Dead, The Amazing Race was the night’s other notable performer. It won 6.1 million viewers overall and 1.9 in the 18-49s in an 8pm slot.

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