MUMBAI: The 57th edition of the Grammy Awards gala was watched by 25.3 million television viewers, Nielsen reported.  It is the smallest audience for the top music industry ceremony since 2009.

The figure was 11 percent below the number of viewers last year and there were 14 percent fewer viewers in the demographic grouping that is of greatest interest to advertisers, namely the 18-45 age group.

Six years ago, the Grammys were viewed by 19 million people, a number that contrasts with the more than 40 million viewers who turned on their TVs to view the galas in 2012 and in 1984, the year that Michael Jackson cleaned up with 'Thriller'.

The apparent declining interest in the Grammys contrasts with the heavy viewership attracted by two series on the AMC channel.

The debut broadcast of the drama 'Better Call Saul', a series focusing on one of the secondary characters in the popular series 'Breaking Bad', was viewed by 6.9 million people, making it the most successful debut in the history of US cable television.

Those numbers, however, were exceeded by the return of 'The Walking Dead', a series about zombies that returned to the small screen with the second batch of fifth-season episodes and attracted 15.6 million viewers.

For 'The Walking Dead', this is the third-best viewership figure since its inception, a level only exceeded by those achieved by the opening episodes of the fourth and fifth seasons in 2013 and 2014.