Breaking Bad signs off with record ratings

The final episode of Breaking Bad has won the best ever ratings for US cable network AMC.

The finale of the gritty drama – about a school teacher turned meth dealer – garnered 10.3 million viewers and 6.7 million in the all-important 18-to-49 demo. There were 5.6 million viewers in the 25-to-54 category.

Bizarrely, many viewers were tuning in for the first time, with Twitter awash with such accounts yesterday evening.

As with The Walking Dead and its talkshow spin-off The Talking Dead, AMC followed Breaking Bad with a show letting fans examine what had happened in the series.

The Talking Bad ‘aftershow’ also performed well, winning 4.4 million viewers and 2.9 million in the 18-to-49s.

The main show went out at 9pm on AMC and Talking Bad directly after.

“Breaking Bad is simply unique,” said Charlie Collier, AMC president. “It all starts with Vince Gilligan who really only ever asked for one thing – the opportunity to end the show on his own terms. That is exactly what Vince did last night and, as always, brilliantly so. Congratulations to Vince and to every single person involved in this remarkable journey.”

Following the critical and, in the latest season, ratings success of Breaking Bad, AMC recently greenlit a spin-off featuring its Saul Goodman lawyer character, Better Call Saul.

The show is distributed internationally by Sony Pictures Television, which has cut a scripted format deal with US Hispanic net Univision for a Spanish-language American version of the series.