​AMC continues to break cable’s (and its own) ratings records with each new show.

Sunday night’s series premiere of The Walking Dead companion series, Fear the Walking Dead, earned 10.1 million viewers - the highest-rated series debut in cable history.

The 90-minute premiere episode is the third AMC series to break into cable’s top-five premieres in ratings, joining February’s Better Call Saul debut and the series launch of The Walking Dead in 2010.

“It is increasingly difficult to evaluate a show’s success on night one,” said AMC and SundanceTV President Charlie Collier in a statement. “However, we are releasing these live/same day ratings because Fear the Walking Dead delivered record-breaking numbers that are all the more special in this era of time-shifted viewing and audience fragmentation. To have a companion series to the No. 1 show on television driving communal, urgent viewing, social activity and pop cultural relevance of this magnitude is truly differentiating. Of course, none of it is possible without the fans, whose passion leads to these remarkable results.”

Sunday’s Talking Dead season six preview special for The Walking Dead also garnered impressive numbers for its 8 p.m. slot, with 4.2 million viewers watching in the hour before the big Fear the Walking Dead premiere.

Fear the Walking Dead also topped the charts for Nielsen’s Twitter TV ratings, blowing past social media hits from MTV and WWE for the week.

It’s important to note that the reported ratings only currently count Live+ same day ratings, with DVR numbers expected to jump throughout the week as word of mouth catches on and viewers catch up.

[Image courtesy of AMC]

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