Paramount’s latest Star Trek series, Starfleet Academy, has been struggling with viewership since its debut. Now in a surprising turn, a Kellogg’s new Super Bowl commercial featuring William Shatner has outperformed the premiere episode of Starfleet Academy on YouTube by an embarassingly significant margin.
The premiere episode of Starfleet Academy was released for free on Paramount Plus’s YouTube channel but has since been removed. Before its removal, the episode managed only 218,000 views in nine days, with approximately 8,000 likes and over 27,000 dislikes. Third-party trackers indicated dislikes surpassed 30,000 before the video was privated. Despite the show’s substantial production costs and marketing budgets, these numbers are beyond underwhelming. For context, popular YouTubers with mid-tier channels often grab far more viewers during their live streams than the premiere episode of Starfleet Academy.
Now, William Shatner’s Kellogg’s Super Bowl commercial, which humorously promotes the importance of fiber and digestive health and shows him in the captain’s seat of a starship, has surpassed 3 million views in just seven days, and generated overwhelmingly positive engagement and shares. Here’s the spot:
Kellogg's Raisin Bran Will Shat
The ad cleverly leans into iconic Star Trek imagery, featuring Shatner in a starship captain’s chair and beaming down to Earth. Shatner even humorously refers to himself as “Will Shat,” playing on the humorous fiber push. The parody-style commercial clearly resonated with audiences far more than the Starfleet Academy premiere. Has anyone told Paramount?
The disparity between the two videos is striking:
– Starfleet Academy premiere: 218,000 views in nine days, with a high dislike ratio.
– Shatner’s cereal commercial: Over 3 million views in one week, with positive reception.
Even review videos of the Starfleet Academy series by various YouTubers have garnered more views than the episode itself. This can probably all be chalked up to audience apathy. The lack of interest in Starfleet Academy is obvious from the low trailer views and overwhelming negative feedback. It also seems as though many Star Trek fans were either unaware of the new series or uninterested in its concept and execution.
The show seems to have been made for an audience that either does not exist in significant numbers or is simply not engaged by the content. Even after five episodes, it still remains unclear who the target audience is. This disconnect has led to widespread ambivalence, which is often fatal for a show’s success. While there were some positive comments and reviews, they’re few and far between, often coming with caveats highlighting various issues with the show. There’s also a small subset of fans willing to watch any slop and certainly willing to watch anything bearing the Star Trek name.
William Shatner’s cereal commercial not only entertains but also highlights the challenges facing the Paramount. Despite significant investment, their latest Trek show has failed to capture the interest of its intended audience, resulting in low viewership and engagement. Audience apathy remains the ultimate indictment of the series, underscoring the importance of understanding and connecting with viewers in today’s competitive entertainment landscape.
Long live William Shatner, aka Will Shat. hank you for entertaining us all these many years. You’re a treasure, sir, and STILL the best captain.
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English (US) · 