Before the episode was shown, a half-hour special was shown on the Sci Fi Channel about the making of "Trials and Tribble-ations" on November 2, 1996. Paramount also promoted the episode by arranging the placement of around 250,000 tribbles in subways and buses across the United States. It received Nielsen ratings of 7.7%, placing it in sixth place in the timeslot. It is the most watched episode of the fifth season during its initial broadcast. The last time the series had received similar ratings was nearly a year earlier with season four's "".