The second-season finale of Mad Men went out on a strong Nielsen note last night.
AMC's Emmy-winning retro advertising series averaged a 1.4 household rating and 1.75 million during its 10 p.m. premiere showing Oct. 26, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
The numbers marked a 75% jump over Mad Men’s 0.8 average for its first season and an 89% rise over the rookie year’s 925,000 viewer average. The first-season finale also averaged a 0.8 with a minor increase to 926,000 viewers.
With its three showings last night (encores aired at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.,) the second-season finale pulled in 2.9 million total viewers for AMC.
Aided by the uptick for the sophomore-season concluder, Mad Men averaged a 1.2 household rating and 1.5 million viewers for premiere installments during the just completed campaign.
Among demos, the program, which became the first basic cable show to win the outstanding drama award, more than doubled its first-season performance among adults 18 to 49, drawing 705,000 of those watchers versus 338,000. With adults 25 to 54, Mad Men grew 81% to 780,000 of those watchers, compared to 430,000 during the first season.
