Each week on AMC’s live after-show Talking Dead, host Chris Hardwick brings together a rotating series of guests -- showrunners, cast members and celebrities fans -- to dig into that night’s episode of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead. Viewers at home also join in the collective discussion via a variety of different platforms and digital portals, including TalkingDead.com and the Play Dead App. This combination of real-time engagement, both on- air and online, has not only made Talking Dead the No. 1 live talk show in the country, it’s also created one the most interactive experiences on television.

In the last year, nearly 90 million viewers have tuned in to Talking Dead to join Hardwick and his guests’ lively discussions each week, with approximately 7.1 million fans visiting TalkingDead.com for a variety of ways to participate in the conversation. On the fully- responsive site, fans can submit questions in the Talking Dead Talk forum or post of video of themselves, which may be played on-air during the show. Users can also click through to post questions on AMC’s official Twitter and Facebook pages for Talking Dead.

Another key way the audience participates in Talking Dead’s action is with its real-time interactive experience, Play Dead. Play Dead is a free web app that is extremely easy to use, requires no sign up and is accessible on all computers and mobile devices. The app allows viewers to participate from their couch in snap polls and quizzes and see their results instantaneously on Talking Dead. Throughout the episode, viewers are asked these questions -- some planned beforehand, and others in quick response to the spontaneous discussion between Chris and his guests. Users then answer each question on their device with a single tap. Chris and his panel then incorporate viewers’ reactions into their conversation, sparking further discussion. The results are aggregated and instantly displayed live on-air, allowing Chris and Talking Dead guests to riff on them accordingly.

Play Dead also weaves interactivity into the live show in surprising and entertaining ways, adding a dynamic energy to the show, even for viewers who aren’t playing along. For example, in Season 6, Episode 9 of Talking Dead, Carrie Underwood was left pleading passionately that -- contrary to the fan’s votes -- she could indeed survive a massive zombie herd, admitting that she owns a machete! In facilitating this sort of live exchange, Play Dead provides moments of authentic -- and in this case, hilarious -- audience interaction that deepens Talking Dead for all viewers. The app is a huge hit with fans, who have logged over 2.6 million sessions this season, almost doubling its engagement from last year.

For Season 6 of The Walking Dead, fans were brought closer to the action than ever with the Ultimate Fan Search, which put one lucky fan on the actual couch with Chris and his guests for an episode of Talking Dead. Viewers were instructed to upload a video of themselves to TalkingDead.com explaining why they are the show’s No. 1 fan. Other viewers could then view and vote for the fellow fan who deserved the honor. Hundreds of videos were submitted, thousands of votes were cast, and one lucky fan, Greg Raiewski, was selected by his peers to join Josh McDermott and Christian Serratos (respectively, Eugene and Rosita on The Walking Dead) as Hardwick’s guest on Talking Dead.

By providing a wide array of digital opportunities for fans to engage in and interact with the action each week, live, Talking Dead has proven itself to be a truly interactive experience, second to none.