--- ---  # _Mad Men_ Finale Failed to Set Records  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 19, 2015 4:02 PM UTC  Jay R. Ferguson as Stan Rizzo and Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson - Mad Men \_ Jay R. Ferguson as Stan Rizzo and Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson - Mad Men \_Michael Yarish/AMC  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 19, 2015 4:02 PM UTC _Mad Men_ always had more cultural cache than it did viewers. That trend remained true during Sunday’s series finale, which drew an audience of 3.3 million, its third largest audience ever. Though viewership skyrocketed from the penultimate episode (just 1.43 million viewers), it fell short of its largest audience ever during season five’s premiere in 2012, when 3.54 million people tuned in to the show that had gone missing from the airwaves for 17 months. Though a critical favorite, _Mad Men_ has never reached the ratings of AMC’s most popular shows. By comparison, _The_ _Walking Dead_ draws about 15.8 million viewers per week. AMC had hoped that splitting up _Mad Men_‘s final season would boost its lackluster ratings. A similar strategy worked for last year’s _Breaking Bad_ finale, which drew 10.3 million viewers—up from season four’s 1.9 million viewers two years before. Like _Breaking Bad_, _Mad Men_ began with a modest audience (less than 1 million in season one). But unlike _Breaking Bad_, it couldn’t promise the same drug dealer showdown in the finale. Just [a coke and a smile](http://time.com/3881812/mad-men-finale-review/). 'Mad Men' Finale Failed to Set Records ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3889248/mad-men-finale-failed-records/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3889248/mad-men-finale-failed-records/"},"headline":"Mad Men Finale Failed to Set Records","datePublished":"2015-05-19T16:02:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:27:08.259Z","description":"The critical darling only reached its third best audience Sunday night","url":"https://time.com/3889248/mad-men-finale-failed-records/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe79e8d723819587/69884d08cd1bba30296fb031/6e7ae672-b3a3-9ea1-32ca-feec18bdec9b_mm_714_my_0703_0916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe79e8d723819587/69884d08cd1bba30296fb031/6e7ae672-b3a3-9ea1-32ca-feec18bdec9b_mm_714_my_0703_0916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"rish/AMC","caption":"rish/AMC","creditText":"Michael Yarish/AMC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3889248/mad-men-finale-failed-records/","name":"Mad Men Finale Failed to Set Records"}}]}] ```