Ratings

The season-three finale of AMC’s The Walking Dead and the season-three return of HBO's Game of Thrones both set series-best marks on a competitive Easter Sunday night on the cable dial.

Also Sunday night, some 11.7 million total viewers turned to History for the conclusion of The Bible, fittingly titled “The Resurrection,” a 14% increase from the week prior.

Several of the 50 top shows on cable and broadcast networks receive more DVR and video-on-demand viewers in the 28 days after air than they do live, according to audience-measurement firm Rentrak.

Rentrak’s initial Total Audience Viewing Report, which combines live TV audience with DVR and VOD viewership data, found that TNT’s Rizzoli and Isles and FX’s Sons of Anarchy have DVR and VOD playback viewership that comprises more than 60% of the audience for the 28-day total.

Nielsen and NM Incite, the research company’s joint venture with McKinsey & Co., have acquired SocialGuide, a 12-employee startup that provides social TV measurement and analytics solutions.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. SocialGuide’s employees, including founder and CEO Sean Casey, will become part of NM Incite.

TBS's coverage of Game 2 of the 2012 American League Championship Series averaged a shade over 5 million viewers on Sunday afternoon. While that was down 26% from Game 1, it aired against NFL football.

TBS's coverage of Major League Baseball's first-ever Wildcard Round averaged 4.6 million total viewers.
Individually, the St. Louis Cardinals-Atlanta Braves matchup averaged a 3.3 overnight rating (starting at 5 p.m. ET), while the Baltimore Orioles-Texas Rangers contest, which began at roughly 8:30 p.m (ET). averaged a 4.1 overnight rating. The average 3.0 U.S. household rating for the Wild Card doubleheader was an increase of 58% over last year’s 1.9 rating for the first day of the postseason.