I don’t think it had to do with ratings. I think it was part of an overall strategy for the streamer to lean heavily into franchises to entice subscribers. The ratings were probably only so so for Discovery, but until they could get another live action trek spun up and running (SNW) they didn’t have anything else to replace it with. Picard was a limited series that ended up being stretched too thin (season 2).
Such squandered potential. I feel like most of the actors did the best they could with what they were given. I really would have enjoyed this show more if it had been more of an ensemble piece.