Crown Media/AMC WCTH vs TWD
For the first time, When Calls the Heart hit a major milestone. The Hallmark show’s creator announced that the series defeated The Walking Dead in viewers for Season 8 Episode 4 in the Live+Same Day category.
WCTH Defeated TWD By 200,000 Viewers
Creator Brian Bird shared the announcement in a When Calls the Heart Facebook group, celebrating the big numbers and the show’s first time to defeat the behemoth zombie series.
He wrote:
#Hearties, you were the queens of all of cable TV Sunday night! In the Live+Same Day ratings, 2,396m of you watched When Calls the Heart on Hallmark Channel USA… and for the FIRST TIME EVER, you beat the Zombies on that other network… by a whopping 200k! Who’s next… Godzilla… King Kong? Congrats and well done!!!
The ratings were for the Live+Same Day numbers, with 2.396 million viewers for When Calls the Heart. The Walking Dead had 2.17 million viewers for that same night.
While When Calls the Heart is currently on its eighth season, The Walking Dead is airing new episodes for Season 10. The show has previously announced that Season 11 will be its last.
On March 14, The Walking Dead celebrated its 150th episode. Despite this, numbers have been dropping for the series. The week before its 150th episode, the show had lost another 500,000 viewers. However, it’s important to point out that at least some of the decreasing numbers are likely due to a push toward moving viewers online. AMC’s premiere streaming service, called AMC+, is now streaming new episodes of The Walking Dead a full three days before those episodes air on TV. So this is no doubt cutting into the live viewership numbers to some extent.
When Calls the Heart, meanwhile, might not have started with the same huge numbers out of the gate like The Walking Dead did with its first seasons, but the series has been maintaining its viewership consistently and even growing it. For the February 21 premiere, the show had 2.14 million viewers. (Deadline later updated this to 3 million when counting Live+3.) The viewership has grown steadily ever since. Episode 3 had 2.175 million viewers, and then this week’s reported 2.369 million viewers.
Fans Hope This Will Help with Chances for a Season 9 Renewal
Hallmark hasn’t yet announced if the series is renewed for Season 9, but fans are hoping this news will help make that happen.
The chances seem fairly good that the show will be renewed for another season, since Season 8 is averaging more viewers than Season 7 so far.
Season 7 ratings averaged from .18 to a high of .39 in the 18-49 demo this season. In terms of total viewers, that season brought in between 1.959 million to 2.446 million. The finale brought in 2.672 million viewers. So the show had a slightly higher viewership total and in the 18-49 demographic this season than in Season 6.
Now it’s looking like the show is seeing even more viewers for Season 8. For example. the premiere of both seasons averaged almost the same number of viewers. But Episode 4 of Season 8 had 2.369 million compared to Season 7 Episode 4 enjoying 2.156 million viewers. Hallmark hasn’t announced yet whether or not the series will be renewed, but the Season 8 numbers certainly look hopeful.