Viewing statistics
The first episode gained a final viewing figure of 7.09 million people. The series averaged 6.39 million viewers.[22] When shown in Germany it gained a total audience of 2.78 million viewers. These figures do not take into account the viewing figures for repeats of the programme.[23] After all 7 episodes, series 2 averaged 6.29 million viewers making a very slight drop of 100,000 from the series 1 average.
Although episode 3.3 received low viewer ratings in the UK, the second half of the show was aired during the opposing BBC transmission of a special edition of Doctor Who.[24][25] Season 3 was also broadcast much later in the year than previous seasons so warmer weather could be a factor to explain a small decrease in viewership but little change in the percentage of audience share. Nevertheless, Primeval remains in the Top 30 most viewed programmes for ITV per week, beating many of the Top 30 for other stations as well
Series 1
Episode Overnight rating
(audience share)[1] Final Rating[27]
1.1 6.7 million (29%) 7.09 million
1.2 6.0 million (28%) 6.29 million
1.3 5.8 million (25%) 6.17 million
1.4 5.6 million (24%) 5.81 million
1.5 6.2 million (28%) 6.46 million
1.6 6.1 million (27%) 6.52 million
Average: 6.39 million
Series 2
Episode Overnight rating
(audience share)[1] Final Rating[28]
2.1 5.8 million (26%) 6.32 million
2.2 5.6 million (25%) 6.05 million
2.3 5.7 million (26%) 6.27 million
2.4 5.7 million (24%) 6.39 million
2.5 5.8 million (26%) 6.33 million
2.6 6.0 million (27%) 6.45 million
2.7 5.6 million (26%) 6.20 million
Average: 6.28 million
Series 3
Episode Overnight rating
(audience share)[1] Final Rating[29]
3.1 5.3 million (24%) 5.89 million
3.2 4.4 million (23%) 4.94 million
3.3 2.7 million (14%) 3.28 million
3.4 4.5 million (23%) 4.97 million
3.5 4.9 million (26%) 5.20 million
3.6 4.7 million (25%) 5.27 million
3.7 4.9 million (25%) 5.34 million
3.8 4.6 million (22%) 5.13 million
3.9 4.6 million (25%) 4.97 million
3.10 4.3 million (22%) 4.95 million
Average: 4.99 million