The third season finale of “Downton Abbey†attracted 8.2 million viewers to PBS on Sunday night, giving the public broadcaster even more reason to celebrate the surprise British hit.
Sunday’s viewership surpassed even the viewership for the third season premiere in January, when about 7.9 million viewers tuned in, a 20-year record for PBS. Not since the premiere of “The Civil War†in 1990 “have we seen numbers like this,†a public television station consultant said at the time.
PBS hopes to use the popularity of “Downton,†a co-production between WGBH’s Masterpiece and the British company Carnival Films, to bolster other Masterpiece series and public television as a whole.
In a news release on Tuesday, PBS and WBH said the seven-episode season ended “on a high note.†Many television shows have a spike in viewership toward the beginning but erode by the end of the season.
PBS made another favorable point: the finale on Sunday was up 50 percent, it said, from the finale of the second season, which had 5.4 million viewers this time last year. Still, “Downton†wasn’t the biggest show on television on Sunday night: AMC’s “The Walking Dead†gathered about 11 million viewers.
PBS decided to delay the United States premiere of “Downton†for several months; the series was broadcast in Britain in the fall. The strong ratings for the third season in the United States are likely to persuade PBS to enforce a similar delay for Season 4, which is expected to have its premiere overseas this year.
