Star Trek: Discovery ratings weak for CBS broadcast television debut

The official logo of STAR TREK: U.S.S. DISCOVERY premiering on CBS All Access and CBS Television Network. Photo Credit: Courtesy of CBS Television Studios ©2017 CBS Television Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Disappointing news for CBS this weekend as Star Trek: Discovery season one failed to make a splash on broadcast television. Discovery premiered on terrestrial TV for the first time in the United States this week. Its broadcast debut, just over three years after its debut on CBS All Access, both filled a slot left vacant by delayed productions due to COVID-19, and it served as an important marketing tool for the upcoming premiere of season three on CBS All Access, on October 15th.

However, Variety reported over the weekend that the first episode, “The Vulcan Hello”, only managed a lackluster 1.7 million viewers. For comparison, the largest audiences of the night were ABC’s Celebrity Family Feud, with 5.1 million viewers, and CBS’s own Big Brother, which aired two hours earlier, with just over 4 million viewers. Sadly, CBS doesn’t seem to have retained its Big Brother audience with later shows; neither Love Island nor Discovery hit the 2 million mark.

So is Discovery’s poor Thursday night performance an indication of problems with franchise? Probably not. Not only is Discovery three years old at this point, meaning many audiences will already be familiar with the main action of the series, but it’s also facing stiff competition from ABC’s lineup of new seasons of its hit game shows, Celebrity Family Feud (as mentioned before), Press Your Luck and Match Game. Even the president of CBS Entertainment, Kelly Kahl, in the original statement announcing the broadcast premiere of Discovery, acknowledged that one of the drivers of the decision was filling time while their regular scripted series ramp up production again. She said at the time, “This is hardly a traditional fall season, but we are prepared with a strong slate of original content while our regular scripted series begin production. Based on our current timeline, we hope to start rolling out our previously announced fall series as they become available in November.”

Still, CBS’s ad revenue presumably depends on good viewer figures, so keep your fingers crossed that Discovery’s performance will grow over time. Star Trek: Discovery season one is now airing on CBS on Thursday nights at 10/9c, and look out for the upcoming season three on CBS All Access from October 15th.