Season 5 of The Crown premiered in the U.K. to more than a million viewers on the first day, Wednesday, November 9, according to BARB data from Overnights.tv.
The 1.1 million figure–which does not account for those who watch on laptops, tablets and cell phones–is much lower than the 7.9 million viewers for ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!,
According to BARB data, 666,000 UK viewers stayed to watch the second episode and around 300,000 watched episode three. Episode four earned around 147,000 viewers while episode five earned just 66,000.
These numbers though should be put into context: Most people don’t binge all ten episodes in only one sitting, instead choosing to watch the season over several days. Plus, the new season of The Crown was released mid-week, not on a weekend, and figures will increase in the coming days and weeks, while ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! will most likely not see a bump in viewership.
For weeks, The Crown has been plagued by controversy after controversy.
There have been calls to push the release date, slams about its depictions being “damaging” and “malicious” and requests to add a fictional disclaimer label.
Netflix initially refused to add the disclaimer but later reversed its decision and added a tagline to the show’s official description stating, “Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatization tells the story of Queen Elizabeth II and the political and personal events that shaped her reign.”
However, a disclaimer was not added at the start of each episode or in the opening credits.
The series is currently in the middle of shooting its sixth and reportedly final season.
Although specifics have been kept under wraps, Season 6 appears to center on the 1990s before Diana died in 1997.