Star Trek’s ‘Starfleet Academy’ Ratings Hit Rock Bottom

The initial official Nielsen ratings for Starfleet Academy are now available, and the statistics present a discouraging outlook for the latest effort by Paramount+ to broaden the Star Trek television landscape. Based on recently published streaming figures from the show’s debut tracking period, the series failed to appear in the Top 10 Originals list entirely.

This omission is notable on its own, but the circumstances of the launch make the lack of viewership even more alarming for the studio’s primary franchise. The debut was not a single-episode premiere meant to quietly gauge interest among long-time fans.

Paramount opted for a two-episode release strategy, a move specifically intended to boost total viewing minutes and establish early traction. Despite this calculated advantage, the show was unable to secure a spot in the Nielsen rankings during its opening week.

To put this shortfall into perspective, the minimum threshold to chart was 343 million minutes viewed, a spot held by the series Run Away. With approximately 135 minutes of total content available across the two premiere episodes, the show would have needed roughly 2.5 million complete watches to make the list.

This equates to about 1.27 million full viewers per episode, a baseline the high-profile brand could not clear. The struggle was also evident on the internal platform charts for Paramount+, where the show reportedly debuted in third place.

While that may sound respectable, it is considered a modest start for a project positioned as a massive tentpole for the service. The situation grew more dire as the show quickly dropped out of the platform’s Top 10 list altogether within days of its arrival.

In a surprising turn of events, the new series was surpassed by legacy content such as reruns of The King of Queens and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The show has briefly resurfaced when new episodes are released, but it tends to vanish shortly thereafter.

This behavior suggests that audiences are checking in out of curiosity rather than remaining engaged for the long haul. Efforts to bolster interest by offering the first episode for free on YouTube also seem to have missed the mark.

Before the video was made private, it showed relatively low view counts and a divided reaction from the public. These combined data points suggest that Starfleet Academy has yet to find the meaningful traction Paramount was expecting. The series is led by Academy Award winner Holly Hunter, who plays Captain Nahla Ake, the Chancellor of the Academy and commander of the USS Athena.

She stars alongside Paul Giamatti, who portrays the villainous Nus Braka, a half-Klingon space pirate with a mysterious past. The cast also features a new generation of cadets, including Sandro Rosta as Caleb Mir and Bella Shepard as Genesis Lythe.

For those keeping track of the timeline, the show is set in the 32nd century, following the era established in the later seasons of Star Trek: Discovery. Several fan-favorite characters have made appearances, including Robert Picardo reprising his role as The Doctor and Tig Notaro as Jett Reno.

The production, co-run by Alex Kurtzman and Noga Landau, was filmed at Pinewood Toronto Studios and consists of ten episodes for its first season. Despite the soft ratings for the debut, a second season is already in the final stages of production.

Paramount appears committed to the project, hoping that word of mouth will eventually bridge the gap between legacy fans and a new, younger audience. Whether the series can stabilize its flight path or will continue to drift off the charts remains to be seen as more data becomes available.

Have something to add? Share your thoughts in the comments.