A still from Mad Men. (Image courtesy: @MadMen_AMC
The much-anticipated series finale of AMC's
Mad Men on Sunday drew about 3.3 million viewers live and on the same day, according to Nielsen data provided by Horizon Media.
That audience, the show's largest so far this season, is likely to grow in the coming days as viewers tune in to watch the drama, recorded and on demand.
AMC rolled out the red carpet for the final season of
Mad Men, about the advertising industry in the 1960s, with an extensive advertising and public relations push. (Also Read:
Mad Men Ends With Surprise-Packed Finale)
Sunday's finale ranks as the third-most-watched
Mad Men episode ever, for total viewers who tuned in live and on the same day. The highest-ratings went to the double-episode season five premiere in 2012, with 3.5 million total viewers.
The audience for
Mad Men has steadily climbed over the years. Its debut episode had about 925,000 same-day viewers.
Mad Men put AMC on the map eight years ago when the network started its transformation from its roots as a classic-movie cable network to the home for original programming. After
Mad Men, came other popular and critically acclaimed series like
Breaking Bad and
The Walking Dead.
AMC now is scheduled to televise 10 scripted series this year, including the new series
Better Call Saul, a prequel to
Breaking Bad, which premiered in February, and
Humans, a science-fiction series about the consequences of life with robots, which starts next month.