AMC's The Walking Dead returned with a vengeance in its Season 5 premiere on Sunday night, bringing viewers into the warped walls of Terminus and getting things off to a literally explosive start. The premiere broke series records with 17.3 million viewers tuning in for the initial US airing, and it's now been revealed that the blood-splattered episode achieved similar success around the world:
"(London, 15th October, 2014) - FOX announced today that their global Season 5 launch of The Walking Dead had achieved a 45% increase over Season 4. This L+1 data comes from 20 countries in all three regions: Asia, Latin America and Europe. The Season 5 premiere in Europe alone generated 68% more viewers than last year.
The Walking Dead was simultaneously launched in all 125 FOX channel markets reinforcing the company’s “First on FOX” strategy and consolidating the broadcaster as vehicle for The Walking Dead franchise worldwide. This is the second year that The Walking Dead is released the same day in multiple markets less than 24 hours later than the US premiere. This strategy resulted in some dramatic ratings gains in key markets such as UK, Italy, Spain and Taiwan.
Hernan Lopez, President and Chief Executive Officer, FOX International Channels commented: “The fans’ appetite for The Walking Dead continues to grow. FOX’s same date release strategy within 24 hours of the US premiere means audiences all over the world know they can see the best shows first on FOX. Right now, The Walking Dead is the most successful show in the world. We are proud to have collaborated with AMC in the United States to have made this the phenomenon that it is.”
Local performance highlights include:
The success of the series has been also reflected in social media. Fans of The Walking Dead made it a favorite trending topic in most of the markets during the premiere’s broadcasting. Fox also launched its own #DEADicated campaign and hashtag.
The fantastic reception of The Walking Dead’s season 5 demonstrates once again a powerful association between AMC Networks, series producer and FOX International Channels, the exclusive owner of the first broadcast window outside the US. This partnership has created a global phenomenon.
FOX INTERNATIONAL CHANNELS
FOX International Channels (FIC) is 21st Century FOX’s international multi-media business. We develop, produce and distribute 300+ wholly- and majority-owned entertainment, sports, factual and movie channels in 45 languages across Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. FIC’s core channel brands include FOX, FOX Sports, FOX Life and National Geographic Channel. FIC’s movie channels include FOX Movies, FOX Movies Premium, Star Chinese Movies and Moviecity. Our non-linear brands include FOX Play and Nat Geo Play. These networks and their related mobile, non-linear and high- definition extensions, reach over 1.725 billion cumulative households worldwide. In addition, FIC owns and operates two production studios and produces thousands of local programming hours for its wholly owned channels and third parties. In operation since: August 14, 1993."
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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