• by Wayne Friedman , October 13, 2014

The current highest-rated TV series among key viewers for advertisers -- AMC’s “The Walking Dead” -- just got even more wide-awake-and-breathing viewer results. The highest-rated episode ever for its Season Five premiere.

AMC’s “The Walking Dead” pulled in 11 million 18-49 viewers -- a massive Nielsen 8.7 rating in looking at live program-plus-same day ratings -- 6% higher than last season’s opener. It also posted an overall 17.3 million total viewers, 7% more than a year ago.

“Walking Dead” was the highest-rated show on Sunday night -- beating NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” which totaled 7.6 million 18-49 viewers and a 6.0 rating/16 share.

Previous episode records for the show totaled 10.4 million 18-49 viewers and 16.1 million overall total average viewers.

“Talking Dead,” AMC’s after-show for “The Walking Dead” at 10 p.m., also garnered records. Its fourth-season premiere tallied 4.5 million 18-49 viewers -- a 3.5 rating -- and 6.9 million overall average viewers. AMC says this is a 35% and 34% increase over last year’s premiere, respectively.

“The Walking Dead” was last year’s top-rated scripted series among all TV scripted programming -- broadcast or cable -- among key 18-49 viewers.