'Downton Abbey' Finale Averages 8.2 Million Viewers

PBS drama improves 4% from season three opener

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/19/2013 5:38:24 PM

The finale of Downton Abbey, Season 3 drew 8.2 million viewers to PBS on Sunday at 9 p.m., according to Nielsen, a record audience for the British import.

The Masterpiece Classic series improved 4% over its season three premiere in January and 52% above where it ended season two in February 2012.

Based on metered-market data, Downton Abbey's third season paced 66% ahead of its second. The period soap recently won a SAG award for best ensemble in a drama series and was nominated for a best drama series Emmy last year.

The finale episode, which featured the death of a main character, was the second-most talked about TV series on Twitter on Feb. 17 with nearly 80,000 Downton-related tweets sent, according to SocialGuide.