Priyanka Chopras Quantico pulls in 7.1 million viewers on pilotPg13 - Page 12

Rick Kissell

Sunday's top two-rated entertainment series in young adults " AMC's "The Walking Dead" and ABC's hot rookie "Quantico" " surged in early delayed viewing numbers, according to Nielsen's "live plus-3" estimates.

Cementing its status as the fall's top-rated entertainment series telecast, "The Walking Dead" added 2.7 ratings points (or 36%) to hit a 10.1 rating in adults 18-49 in L+3, helping it open up distance on NBC's "Sunday Night Football" (6.9), Fox's "Empire" (6.9) and CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" (5.5) as the week's top primetime program in the demo.

In previously reported "live plus same-day" results, "The Walking Dead" averaged a 7.43 rating in adults 18-49 and 14.61 million viewers overall to beat football and stand as the night's (and week's) top show in the demo. By comparison, the "Dead" premiere beat Fox's "Empire" season premiere (6.7) by 10% in same-day ratings.

In total viewers, "Walking Dead" picked up nearly 5 million viewers to reach 19.49 million in three-day delayed viewing totals. That put it behind only CBS' "NCIS" (19.84 million) and "The Big Bang Theory" (19.57 million) among the most-watched primetime programs overall for the Oct. 5-11 frame.

Over at ABC, "Quantico" grew 1.5 ratings points (or roughly 94%) from its same-day rating (1.6) to its L+3 rating (3.1); on a percentage basis, this is the largest lift for any broadcast series telecast this fall. ABC earlier this week rewarded "Quantico" for its hot ratings start by giving the show a full first season.

The 3.1 rating matches the L+3 premiere score for "Quantico," and is a bit behind the 3.3 it did for its second week when it became the only new scripted series of the fall to build it L+3 demo rating from week one to week two.

In total viewers, "Quantico" gained 4 million viewers for its third episode, rising from its same-day total of 5.75 million to 9.79 million in L+3. On a percentage basis, the 70% lift is the largest for any broadcast program this fall.

Among the week's 50 most-watched primetime programs last week, the only other two shows to rise by more than 50% from same-day to L+3 were FX's NBC's "The Blacklist" (10.92 million) and FX's "American Horror Story" (9.08 million). Both of these series saw lifts of 56%.

Looking at L+3 total-viewer estimates for Sunday's premium cable offerings, Showtime's "Homeland" led the way with 2.26 million viewers, and the net's "The Affair" drew 913,000. HBO's "The Leftovers" averaged 1.05 million.