Breaking Bad will not only be remembered as a TV drama that went out on top — creatively, and in terms of popularity — but possibly as a game-changer for underdog TV shows. The second half of the fifth season premiered last month to a stunningly large audience for the long-struggling cult-favorite series, delivering a record 5.9 million viewers. A couple weeks ago, ratings notably rose to 6.4 million viewers. Then last week’s penultimate hour crept up to 6.6 million.
For the grand series finale Sunday night, Breaking Bad hit 10.3 million viewers, with 6.7 million adults 18-49.
Let me explain how crazy that is. Do you know what the fourth season finale of Breaking Bad delivered a mere two years ago? That was the gripping “Face Off” episode that capped Walter vs. Gus’ deadly season-long chess game. Go on, guess…
The fourth season finale delivered only 1.9 million viewers.
And at the time, that rating was actually considered good news. Because that was up 23 percent from season three. So two years and only 16 episodes later (since the fifth season was split into two runs of eight episodes each), Breaking Bad viewership has skyrocketed an astounding 442 percent.
http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/09/30/breaking-bad-series-finale-ratings/