The mixed results of Gossip Girl shows the major pitfall to their strategy. The CW’s sought after age demographic doesn’t watch TV during the traditional viewing times, so their live ratings are low, but DVR numbers and iTunes sales are high. DVR usage and iTunes downloads are a big dilemma for networks in general, but it heavily impacts the CW. The most recent timeshifted DVR +7 percentage numbers have six of the CW’s shows in the top ten timeshifted shows. Reaper’s total number of viewers increased 35.3%, Gossip Girl’s 34.8%, Supernatural’s 31.5%, and America’s Top Model, One Tree Hill, and Smallville’s ratings all improved above 25%. CW shows are often high on this list and the network has been jokingly called the “Must DVR Network”.
The DVR numbers are high partially because The CW doesn’t do a very good job of letting viewers know when new episodes are on. Their shows often end up on a DVR "Season Pass," which will record those shows whenever they eventually do air. I heard from many Supernatural fans that when the show came back on April 24th, they didn’t know it was on and found it on their DVR list later. That would make sense since the episode, “Ghostfacers,” posted a series low in live numbers and a series high in DVR numbers. The CW has to convince advertisers that DVR numbers matter otherwise they must step up their promotion to encourage live viewing.
Another area of trouble is the affiliate network. A few months ago, KSWB, the Tribune owned CW affiliate in San Diego, switched to being a Fox station in order to upgrade their position in the market and improve financial results immediately. That left a large market without a CW presence. Pappas Telecasting has ten CW affiliates, and now all are for sale as part of the bankruptcy protection agreement. CW shows are often interrupted by local affiliates airing sporting events, the most notable being baseball on WGN, one of the largest and most prominent stations in the network. Finally, many of the abandoned WB and UPN affiliates have since signed on with rival MyNetworkTV, thus making the distribution system weaker than what the WB had. MyNetworkTV is slowly gaining momentum, especially now that it’s taking over Friday Night Smackdown. Many predict that show alone will pull their overall ratings almost even with The CW.
The budget cuts at The CW aren’t going to help them overcome other obstacles that have been hurting them. The CW has already acknowledged that by not providing programming year round and missing out on last summer, many forgot about the network come fall. The trouble is this network doesn’t have the financial resources to maintain a year round schedule. So far the plan is to premiere their Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday schedules on September 1st, three weeks earlier than everyone else. Until then, there won’t be much to help them this summer.
Article comments
1 - Jeffrey
Excellent analysis! Really enjoyed reading it, and you really pulled a lot of divergent info together really well.
I think the only thing you missed was not drowning Dawn Ostroff in blame for her years of mismanagement at both the WB and the CW.
2 - DG
The new Tribune honcho Sam Zell must be furious at this new lineup. He's already on the record as saying the CW needs to do a better job of delivering 18-49s to his prime-time newscasts in NY, LA, Chicago, etc. Wonder if he's consulting with lawyers on ways to get out of the affiliation contract...