For a couple years there it seemed like vampires would rule pop culture for all eternity, so it's sort of a relief that zombies now seem to have the upper hand. The return of "The Walking Dead" -- which is based on the comic book series by Robert Kirkman -- continues to be a smash ratings hit for AMC, while fan buzz about the show pretty much takes over Twitter with the airing of each new episode.
Ad Age asked our editorial partner Trendrr, the social-media monitoring firm, to parse the Twitter conversation surrounding "The Walking Dead." Trendrr has been tracking a dozen key terms associated with the show including "walking dead" and @walkingdead_amc (the show's official Twitter handle) as well as various hashtags: "#thewalkingdead," "#spreadthedead," etc. (The hashtag terms most commonly used in tweets about the show appear in our chart below -- including #nw, Twitter shorthand for "now watching," as in @harvey_shanika: "#NW Last nights #WalkingDead -Intense from the beginning!"
The one-day peak so far: 125,492 "Walking Dead"-related tweets on Oct. 18, which is when AMC's partner, Fox International Channels (FIC), shared the show with a global audience (see below).
Yesterday, AMC announced that it's renewed "The Walking Dead" for a third season. From the network's press release:
Season two continues to deliver the strongest telecasts for any drama in basic cable history against Adults 18-49, shattering a basic cable record set nearly 10 years ago for a single drama telecast ("The Dead Zone")... FOX International Channels rolled-out its global launch for "The Walking Dead" this weekend, with premieres on FIC's cable networks in Europe, Asia, Latin American, Africa and the Middle East. The series' international premieres delivered equally impressive results in all major international TV markets, and broke pay-TV ratings ' records across the world. Over 10 million viewers in 122 countries tuned in live to watch the second season premiere of this highly anticipated returning drama.
By the way, there's another one of those damn "Twilight" movies coming out next month. I'd like to see one of the "Walking Dead" zombies rip the face off of one of the sexy "Twilight" vampires, but that 's probably asking too much.
