While The Walking Dead‘s midseason finale didn’t reach the record breaking numbers the premier hit, it still was a massive success. The action packed episode left 12.1 million viewers jaws on the floor with a 6.1 (7.7 million adults) in the key 18-49 demographic. The third season’s miseason finale brought in 10.49 million viewers and earned 5.4 in that same demographic. The series clearly is gaining since last season.

The Walking Dead returns to AMC on Sunday, February 9 at 9pm followed by Talking Dead at 10pm and Comic Book Men at midnight which has had a consistent 1 million viewers.

The Walking Dead is a massive success and is the #1 show in the 18-49 demographic and remains the highest-rated series in the history of cable television. The first eight episodes of its fourth season delivered an average of 13 million viewers and 8.4 million adults 18-49.

The Talking Dead midseason finale had 6 million viewers, including 3.8 million adults 18-49. The show has averaged 4.5 million viewers and 3 million adults 18-49. That’s an increase of 128% since the first half of its second season and up 120% in the coveted 18-49 demo.

From a press release, key Nielsen highlights for the midseason (season four) finale of The Walking Dead:

9 pm airing – 6.5 HH rating
9 pm airing – 12.1 million viewers
9 pm airing – 7.7 million adults 18-49

Key Nielsen highlights (averages) for the first eight episodes of The Walking Dead season four:

9 pm airing – 6.8 HH rating
9 pm airing – 13.0 million viewers
9 pm airing – 8.4 million adults 18-49

Key Nielsen highlights for the mid-season (season three) finale of Talking Dead:

10 pm airing – 3.2 HH rating
10 pm airing – 6.0 million viewers
10 pm airing – 3.8 million adults 18-49

Key Nielsen highlights (averages) for the first eight episodes of Talking Dead season three:

10 pm airing – 2.4 HH rating
10 pm airing – 4.5 million viewers
10 pm airing – 3.0 million adults 18-49

The Walking Dead also flexes its muscle on social media. It was the top show on Twitter with 880,450 show-related Tweets from 391,210 unique authors, generating a total of 43.9 million impressions, according to Nielsen SocialGuide. Twitter activity peaked at 9:48 p.m. EST with 31,861 Tweets-per-minute, representing 83 percent of all television-related Twitter activity at that time. The Walking Dead was also the #1 program for the day in TV-related social media Twitter activity, including the mid-season finale and seven previous episodes that ran during a catch-up marathon on AMC, with the most unique authors and total Tweets. The mid-season finale also generated a number of simultaneous trending topics including #TheWalkingDead, TWD, Hershel, RIP Hershel, Not Hershel and #PrisonShowdown.

You can check out our review here.