The Walking Dead Season 4 Continues to Generate Historic Ratings

AMC's hit zombie drama The Walking Dead is in Season 4 and continues to draw massive ratings. But those ratings are now approaching historic when compared to everything else on television.

According to EW.com, The Walking Dead has averaged almost 19.9 million viewers per episode this season including seven days of DVR playback. That's an astronomical enough figure for a cable show, but it's the show's rating in the coveted adults 18-49 demographic that is truly eye-popping. The Walking Dead has earned a 10.3 rating, with DVR playback, in the demo.

The site put together a list of comparisons to put into perspective just how much The Walking Dead is trouncing its competition. Here are some notes:

-       The Walking Dead's rating in the 18-49 category is 23 percent greater than NBC's Sunday Night Football (8.4), the top rated show on broadcast television.

-       CBS' The Big Bang Theory has more viewers than The Walking Dead, but its 7.7 demo rating does not approach it.

-       ABC's Scandal, one of the most popular shows on television, pulls in a 4.8 rating, less than half that of The Walking Dead.

But perhaps the most telling statistic of all is that the last show that would have beaten The Walking Dead in the demo aired in the 2007-08 season. Fox's American Idol on Tuesday and Wednesday nights earned 11.3 and 10.8 ratings, respectively, with seven-day DVR playback. ABC's Desperate Housewives barley beats the AMC show with a 10.4 rating, and that is without the benefit of DVR playback numbers. In the 2002-03 season, Fox's Joe Millionaire (12.1) and Friends (10.4) both beat the show.

And with fewer cable channels and less Internet content, more shows (particularly broadcast shows) beat The Walking Dead. The second season of CBS' Survivor earned a 12.6 rating, while the final season of NBC's Seinfeld in 1997-98 destroys The Walking Dead with an 18.0 rating. Even shows such as NBC's Caroline in the City (14.0) and Single Guy (12.6) both had greater ratings in 1995-96.