“Mad Men” returned on Sunday night to scoop up 3.6 million fans of chain-smoking, hard-drinking and womanizing. Live + 3 Day viewing padded the midseason premiere night’s stats.
Out of that group, 1.9 million viewers came from the key 25-54 demographic. That number rose 60 percent with time-shifting viewing versus Nielsen’s Live + Same Day numbers, which is why many cable channels such as AMC wait to report their data.
The aforementioned 3.6 million total viewers is a 57 percent jump from the comeback’s L+SD numbers. The number is down just slightly from the actual Season 7 premiere, which is now many months ago.
“Heading into these bittersweet final episodes, AMC has been focused on giving this extraordinary program the send-off it deserves,” AMC President Charlie Collier said. “So clearly, the impact of ‘Mad Men’ goes well beyond traditional ratings. It’s incredibly rewarding, of course, to have so many people tuning in and joining us as we begin to say farewell to a series that has meant so much to the fans, television, popular culture and of course our network.”
He concluded: “There are six hours left in Matthew Weiner’s 92-hour masterpiece, and we can’t wait to share and savor them as fans ourselves.”
The final six episodes of “Mad Men” will air Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC, with the series finale set for May 17.