The zombie hit midseason premiere had 15.8 million viewers and an 8.2 rating among adults 18-49, beating NBC’s Sochi Winter Olympics ratings in the adult demo Sunday night (which had a 6.9 in the demo). This marks the most-watched midseason premiere yet for the AMC hit, up 28 percent from last year’s return. The performance is down just slightly from the season four premiere last fall (16.1 million). For The Walking Dead to post this large of a ratings gain while airing against the Olympics is quite impressive.