AMC See Big Gains With Time-Shifted Data For 'The Walking Dead' And 'Better Call Saul' Returns

While both "The Walking Dead" and "Better Call Saul" faced stiff competition during their returns last week, many analysts weren't concerned because the AMC Networks Inc AMCX series usually fare well with time-shifted viewing. This year's data was no different as both shows saw significant bounces.

The sixth season mid-season premiere of "Dead" had to deal with both the NBA All-Star game and Valentine's Day, but still earned 13.7 million viewers and a 6.8 rating in the 18-49 demo. Counting the +3 results the zombie drama jumped to 19.1 million viewers and a 9.5 demo rating. That's a leap from the show's fall finale back in November and stand as the show's best numbers since the its sixth season premiere in October.

Meanwhile "Better Call Saul," which had the Herculean task of returning against The Grammys also saw a sizable jump. While the series (understandably) did nowhere near the massive record-breaking numbers its series premiere did in 2015 with a "Walking" lead-in, its results were very impressive.

"Saul" jumped from 2.57 million viewers to 4.7 million viewers and pulled in a 2.1 demo rating. The demo rating is nearly double the 1.1 number registered during its live premiere. With the exception of "Walking" and FX hit "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," that's good enough to make "Saul" the third most-watched scripted cable series during its return week.