Last night the third season of Mad Men premiered on AMC. The 10:00 p.m. EST airing drew an audience of 2.8 million, a new record for the series.

Given last night’s performance and overall viewership during the first two seasons, Mad Men should average just over 2.5 million viewers per episode this season, which would be a substantial improvement for the series but still considerably lower than the 5+ million audiences that top cable series normally pull in.

Regardless of relative audience levels, Mad Men is certainly a success just based on the critical acclaim and awards it has garnered- Mad Men won a Best Drama Emmy in 2008, a first for any basic cable series, and it recently got nominated for again. The show’s success also seems to be spreading within AMC; sister show Breaking Bad recently also got nominated for an Emmy in Best Drama. AMC’s twin nominations place it at the top of the prestigious category.