‘The Walking Dead: Dead City’ Becomes Highest-Rated Premiere in AMC+ History as Streamer Leans Into Franchises
Negan and his bat don’t usually get much time for baseball, but they’ve helped AMC+ hit a home run. The streamer has announced that “The Walking Dead: Dead City” has become the No. 1 season premiere in the history of AMC+, beating out past seasons of the original “Walking Dead” series and newer shows like “Interview with the Vampire” and “Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches.”
AMC+ did not provide specific numbers for how many customers streamed the premiere of “The Walking Dead: Dead City,” but it did disclose that 2 million additional viewers watched it on the AMC cable channel. The series follows the popular TWD characters Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffery Dean Morgan) traveling into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan. Inhabited by the dead and the living alike, The Big Apple has become an anarchic world of its own, filled with both beauty and terror.
“Survive here, survive anywhere. What an incredible start for this series - the #1 season premiere in the history of AMC+ - and for the next chapter in The Walking Dead Universe, with three new shows focused on iconic characters in intriguing and novel locations,” said Dan McDermott, president of AMC Studios. “Thanks to the best fans in television for joining Maggie and Negan for the beginning of this thrilling ride through the streets of Manhattan, and everyone who brought ‘Dead City’ very much to life. There’s so much more to come over the course of this season. Here we go!”
The success of “TWD: Dead City” comes at a time when AMC is trying to turn around its fortunes. The company is trying to lean into its franchises like “The Walking Dead” and the Anne Rice Immortal Universe in an attempt to keep users engaged and promote its best-known brands. Disney is doing likewise with its streaming platform Disney+, and Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to its franchises for more content as well.
A focus on more franchise titles is not the only tactic AMC is willing to borrow from its competitors to make its streamers successful. The company is also launching an ad-supported tier of AMC+ that it hopes to have ready by October, and may start pulling its various streamers together in bundles for more consolidation.
It may be too little, too late for AMC, however. The service has just 11.5 million streaming users, and revenues from the cable side of its business continue to fall. Financially, the company may be better off stripping its streamers for parts, but even in that case the premiere of “TWD: Dead City” is a success for AMC. Having successful IP like “The Walking Dead” franchise would make AMC+ more attractive to potential buyers.
Only time will tell the ultimate fate of AMC and its streaming segment. But the “Walking Dead” franchise is just heating up; “The Walking Dead: Darryl Dixon” is in post-production on its first season, and the company has announced it will release “More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe” sometime in the next couple of years, as well. Even if AMC doesn’t survive that long, the franchise will undoubtedly be picked up somewhere, meaning fans will have more “TWD” spinoffs to look forward to.
AMC+
AMC+ is a premium streaming bundle that includes the best from AMC, BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV, Shudder, Sundance Now, and IFC Films Unlimited containing original, award-winning series, popular movies, festival favorites, plus horror, sci-fi, true crime, and thrillers. You can subscribe to AMC+ for $4.99 / month or save with the annual plan for $59.88 / year.