"The Walking Dead" Beat "High School Musical's" Cable Rating Record

The season four premiere pulled in 20 million viewers.

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Big news: Apparently, the season four premiere of The Walking Dead actually pulled in much higher ratings than previously thought. According to The Hollywood Reporter, once Nielsen's Live+Three Day returns were added in to TWD's already whopping ratings, last Sunday's episode actually averaged about 20.2 million viewers, which is four million more than preliminary reports were showing.

These new numbers make last Sunday's episode the most-watched nonsports show ever on cable, breaking High School Musical 2's previous record of about 18.2 million viewers in 2007. Additionally, TWD is pretty much killing it with the 18-49 demographic—the one advertisers care about most—and pulled in a 10.6 rating, which is higher than even NBC's Sunday Night Football.

Poor Zac Efron—and on his birthday, too. 

[via The Hollywood Reporter]

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