Mad Men's Premiere Ratings Are Down—Find Out How Low

The hit AMC drama returned to its worst numbers since season two in 2008

By Chris Harnick Apr 14, 2014 6:51 PMTags
Mad Men FashionFrank Ockenfels/AMC

Mad Men returned for its final season…but not all of its viewers did. The season seven premiere of the hit AMC drama pulled in just 2.3 million viewers with 1 million of them in the key 18-49 demographic.

"Sharing a Sunday night premiere episode of Mad Men on AMC is a uniquely satisfying experience as a fan, and something we never take for granted as a network. Congratulations and thank you to Matthew Weiner and his remarkable team, both on-air and off, for, once again, treating us all to the rarest of entertainment air," Charlie Collier, AMC president, said in a statement. "We happily welcome back Mad Men."

The season seven premiere was down from the sixth season bow, the April 2013 premiere had 3.4 million viewers. This was the lowest season premiere since 2008, the show's second season debut.

Mad Men's final season will be split, like AMC did with Breaking Bad. The final seven episodes will premiere in spring 2015.

"This approach has worked well for many programs across multiple networks, and, most recently for us with Breaking Bad which attracted nearly double the number of viewers to its second half premiere than had watched any previous episode," Collier said in a statement when AMC initially made the announcement. "We are determined to bring Mad Men a similar showcase. In an era where high-end content is savored and analyzed, and catch-up time is used well to drive back to live events, we believe this is the best way to release the now 14 episodes than remain of this iconic series."

Mad Men airs Sundays, 10 p.m. on AMC.