Without Clarkson and Top Gear the BBC Lost 4 Million Viewers

However, that will absolutely come at a price, and we’ve just witnessed our first example. According to The Guardian, BBC2 lost nearly 2 million viewers on Sunday night due to Top Gear being pulled from the air as a result of Clarkson’s suspension. Top Gear has been BBC2’s most popular weekly show for a long time, and the last new episode to air was watched by 5.1 million viewers.

On an even greater scale, the Top Gear brand is worth at least 50 million pounds a year to BBC Worldwide. So yeah, the network is taking quite a hit by pulling the last three remaining episodes of this season. Clarkson is still suspended and no final decision has been made yet regarding his future. In Top Gear’s place last Sunday, a documentary about the Royal Air Force aerobatics team was aired. It received only 1.3 million viewers. Do the math, BBC. Is it really worth it to ditch Clarkson?