This week The Walking Dead live ratings for “Sing Me A Song” held steady while Live+3 ratings for “Swear” jumped dramatically.

The live ratings for the latest Walking Dead episode, “Sing Me A Song” increased slightly over last week’s “Swear” episode. Many people predicted “Sing Me A Song” would bring in more live views because it wasn’t a bottle episode. “Sing Me A Song” also featured some fan favorite characters like Negan and Daryl.

With 10.48 million live views “Sing Me A Song” came in just slightly higher than “Swear”. “Swear” had 10.4 million live views. The slight increase is a good indication that the lower ratings The Walking Dead is experiencing this season isn’t related to the show. Other factors like lower cable viewing in general and an increase in the number of people streaming the show are responsible for the drop in live views this season.

The live views for the midseason finale, “Hearts Still Beating”, should be much higher than the past few episodes. But overall the ratings for the show are still quite strong. Factoring in the Live+3 and Live+7 views the show averages just over 14 million views. That’s a pretty impressive feat for a genre show that is midway through the 7th season.

“Swear” Ratings Jump

The bottle episode “Swear” had the lowest live views of the season but finished strong when additional views were counted. It added almost 4 million views in the Live+3 ratings. The 39% increase in ratings gave “Swear” a final Live+3 rating of 14.2 million views. That’s consistent with the increase that other episodes have had this season.

Some fans were disappointed with “Swear” because it focused on Tara and Heath. The episode also introduced the Oceanside community. Oceanside may end up playing a vital role in the upcoming fight against the Saviors. Even though the episode wasn’t expansive it was an important episode for the overall story.

Comparing the Ratings

With an average viewership of 14 million per episode so far in Season 7 The Walking Dead ratings are higher this season than any other season. In the first half of Season 6 the show was averaging 13 million views per episode. Back in Season 5 the average was 12 million views per episode. During the first half of Season 4 the average was also 12 million views. Looking back to Season 3 the show was getting about 10 million views per episode. And going all the way back to Season 2 the show was getting about 8 million views during the first half of the season.

If you look at the numbers The Walking Dead has continued the momentum that started back in Season 2. Every year the show’s fanbase and viewership has climbed by millions. When you see stories talking about The Walking Dead’s dropping ratings look at the big picture. The ratings for the show are still going up every single year. The Walking Dead continues to dominate cable ratings and it’s not slowing down at all.