‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Premiere Draws Nearly 10 Million Viewers

Update: These numbers have been updated to 9.6 million and a 1.9 in the key demo. CBS expects 15 million and 3.0 demo rating when +7 delayed viewing numbers are totaled. Original article text follows.

Star Trek made its return to television last night, and there was a legion of fans eager to greet the new series.

The premiere episode of Star Trek: Discovery was viewed by approximately 8.2 million people on Sunday night, earning a 1.6 key demo rating.

Those numbers may be adjusted before becoming official, as the runover from the NFL football games and 60 Minutes may affect them.

The special premiere event will be the only time that Star Trek: Discovery will air on CBS. The first two episodes were both available on CBS All Access on Sunday night. The remainder of the series’ first season will stream exclusively on CBS All Access, which saw a record number of subscriber sign-ups on the day of Discovery‘s debut.

Star Trek: Discovery is the second original scripted series to land at CBS All Access. The Good Fight, a spinoff of CBS drama The Good Wife, premiered earlier in 2017. The first episode of The Good Fight also aired on CBS to attract attention to the new series.

CBS is betting big on Star Trek: Discovery, which carries a very high per-episode price tag for the network. CBS head Leslie Moonves expects the series to help drive the number of CBS All Access subscribers to more than 4 million by 2020.

If that plans works then additional Star Trek series could be developed, such as a Star Trek anthology series or possibly the rumored prequel about Khan Noonien Singh.

The reaction to the first two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery has been largely positive. New episodes will stream on CBS All Access Sundays at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Star Trek: Discovery is the first new Star Trek television series to debut in over a decade. The franchise ended an 18-year uninterrupted run on television when Star Trek: Enterprise went off the air in 2005.

The Star Trek film series was rebooted in 2009, with a new cast playing the characters from Star Trek: The Original Series in an alternate timeline. Discovery marks the return to the original Star Trek timeline, where all five previous Star Trek television series and the first 10 Star Trek movies took place.