The Walking Dead signs off with record ratings

The fourth season finale of AMC zombie drama The Walking Dead scored a massive 15.7 million viewers on US basic cable, rating data has revealed.

The series, which is the most watched non-sports cable telecast in US TV history, saw the current season finale take a 17% week-on-week gain from last week’s 13.5 million, according to Nielsen.

The figure was also 26% bigger than the season three finale, which took 12.4 million, and included 10.2 million 18-49s.

Only the season four premiere last year and the mid-season return in February recorded larger numbers, with 16.1 million and 15.8 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, spin-off talk show The Talking Dead took a series record 7.3 million viewers in its post-Walking Dead slot.

The numbers confirm The Walking Dead, which comes from Circle of Confusion, Darkwood Productions, Valhalla Motion Pictures and AMC Studios, as the most-popular drama series in the US. It follows a group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic Georgia who seek refuge from flesh-eating zombies.

Season five launches on AMC in the US in October. It goes out on Fox International Channels globally.