Star Trek: Picard Viewership Plummets Over Half A Million In Canada

John F. Trent |

Mar 5, 2020

Star Trek: Picard viewership has plummeted over half a million viewers in Canada in just five episodes.

Canadian data analysis firm Numeris, who provide “broadcast measurement and consumer behavior data, as well as industry-leading intelligence, to a membership and licensee base that includes Canadian broadcasters, advertisers and agencies, as well as other broadcast-related organizations,” released their latest viewership for Star Trek: Picard as part of their TV Weekly Top 30.

The latest numbers are from Episode 5. They report that the show was only viewed by 1.309 million viewers. It was the 16th most popular show in Canada between February 17th to February 23rd.

The show originally debuted in Canada with 1.851 million viewers on January 23rd.

By the second episode the show’s viewership had fallen to 1.674 million and it was tied for 10th as the most watched show in Canada. It lost 177,000 viewers. That’s almost a 10% decline.

Episode 3 dropped to 1.402 million. The show dropped to 13th most viewed in Canada. It lost 272,000 viewers from Episode 2. It’s almost a 25% decline from the first episode.

The show would slightly rebound in viewership for Episode 4 with 1.420 million. However, it would still fall to 15th most viewed. It’s an 18,000 increase. It’s still a a little over 23% decline from the first episode.

With Episode 5 only clocking in 1.309 million, it lost 111,000 viewers. That’s almost a 30% decline in viewership in just 5 episodes.

The show is losing on average 108,000 viewers per episode. It has lost 542,000 total since the premiere episode.

ViacomCBS President and CEO Bob Bakish did indicate in the most recent earnings report call that Star Trek: Picard broke CBS All Access records for streams as well as new sign-ups.

Bakish stated, “On the heels of Star Trek: Picard on CBS All Access – which broke our records for total streams & subscriber sign-ups.”

Their earnings report also noted, “In January, the premiere of Star Trek: Picard on CBS All Access broke internal records for total streams and subscriber signups.”

Bakish would also tout the health of the Star Trek franchise and indicate they plan on expanding on it, “We’re now taking the #StarTrek franchise & extending it across the house.”

However, given the rapid attrition of Canadian viewers from Picard, it’s safe to assume that CBS All Access is more than likely facing similar results.

If Star Trek: Picard is facing this rapid loss of audience, one has to wonder just what the viewership numbers for Star Trek: Discovery are, especially given that Bakish and CBS touted the show broke records for total streams.

Is the Star Trek franchise really as healthy as ViacomCBS and Bob Bakish make it out to be?

The stock market doesn’t seem to be too confident in ViacomCBS at the moment. While it’s not specifically related to Star Trek it does affect the company overall. The stock price plummeted from $35.67 a share on February 19th to $21.48 on March 5th. And the trend indicates it will continue to decline.

What do you make of these plummeting viewership numbers for Star Trek: Picard?