Doctor Who ratings and viewership once again continue to nosedive which could lead to Season 12 being the worst of the new series to date.
The second episode that aired this past Sunday was only viewed by 4.6 million people, a drop of 300K viewers from the first episode on New Year’s Day that brought in 4.9 million people.
The current average for the two episodes is 4.78 million, which is currently the lowest of any of the new Doctor Who series, as it’s lower than the average the Peter Capaldi Season 12 had with 5.45 million viewers.
The lowest viewed Doctor Who series is the 7th Doctor’s Sept. – Dec. 1989 run with 4.15 million viewers.
It should be noted that the show could see an uptick in DVR and streaming views, but a continued live drop among the audience should be looked at as alarming.
Viewers continue shunning Doctor Who
Back in the David Tennant years, the show was averaging 7-8 million viewers which continued with Matt Smith, but things started to fall with Peter Capaldi and now the viewership is nosediving with Jodie Whittaker and new showrunner Chris Chibnall, both of whom have been rumored to be leaving the series.
The BBC’s Dracula Season 2 also lost 22% of its live audience from Episode 1 – down a whopping 800,000 viewers – but the good news for that show is that fans are showing up the following week as streaming and DVR views have seen the first episode’s viewership nearly double.
The 7-day Doctor Who ratings haven’t yet been reported.