Overnight ratings estimated that "The Stolen Earth" was watched by viewers, approximately 38.3% of the total television audience. The final viewing figure was viewers, the second highest figure of the week beginning ; the highest was the UEFA Euro 2008 Final, watched by 8.84 million viewers. Prior to the episode's broadcast, only "Voyage of the Damned" had ranked as high; the record was subsequently broken by "Journey's End" a week later. Consequently, rival channel ITV1 suffered its second worst average audience share in the channel's history: the daily average was 10.2% compared to BBC One's 26.9% average share. The episode received an Appreciation Index score of 91 (considered excellent), the highest rating ever received by the series and one of the highest ratings ever for a terrestrial television programme. Including its viewership on the BBC iPlayer and the following repeats on BBC Three and BBC One, "The Stolen Earth" was eventually viewed by 12.86 million viewers: over two million higher than the series average of 10.59 million.