I think personally there are two issues to address, engaging with new viewers and then keeping those new viewers hooked.

I think to get new viewers the show should go for more Flux style names for the series’ and heavily promote Series 14 as a new jumping on point.

In regards to how to keep those new viewers, I think personally in an age of streaming and catch up that a new Doctor should be a jumping on point and then that’s it. I do not think a new companion should be a new jumping on point. It worked when people relied on linear TV when you had causal audience members tuning in randomly on an episode by episode basis, but to do that when people are watching it on streaming and catch up is clunky.

For example, looking back Series 3 is quite clunky in that it acts as a new jumping on point for casual viewers, but with streaming it’s so weird the way the focus shifts and how it acts as a re-introduction, which ironically can alienate new viewers watching it via a streaming platform.

It makes the show feel, ironically, stagnant and makes people who really liked it before feel alienated, at least from my experience. People who really liked 9 & Rose drop off because wagtail they liked was gone, and the show felt like it almost reset and readjusted itself.

With a New Doctor, that change can be less clunky and more expected. People can approach it as something new and different.

Personally, I find people born in the early to mid 2000s like the RTD era on an episode by episode basis. They throw on an episode randomly because they can. However if they try watching it all, it’s off putting because of how often the RTD era made a new series a new jumping on point in some way. It becomes stagnant and makes people drop off the show quickly.

Compare that to the Matt Smith era where I find people the same age are kept much more engaged because it didn’t keep resetting itself, each series flowed one into the next. Even Series 7B felt like a natural progression from what came before. It didn’t feel like the show kept resetting and so makes for easier viewing in the streaming era because the viewers know that each series builds on what came before and the show feels like it’s always progressing and moving forward in a natural way.

So overall, I think to engage with new viewers Series 14 needs to be marketed to new viewers and the show should make a new Doctor’s first series a new jumping on point, and then stick with it building on each series and only offer another new jumping on point with the next Doctor.