CW Network on Life Support?
This season, we’ve heard growing concerns over The CW’s viability. This week, after the networks official presentation on its third season offerings, The Wall Street Journal published a story about the network’s ability to stay afloat.
Ratings have been in the tank for the network, and they are scrambling, not only to fix it, but to highlight what is working on the fledgling network. The almost two-year-old network has made the 18-to-34 year old its bread and butter. This is its strength and its weakness. While women in this age group are believed to respond to advertisements, their male counterparts don’t make buying decisions in the same way. In fact, The CW, after having dumped wrestling programs with their lower ad rate male audience, this week announced that 18-to-34 year old women is now its target demographic.
One issue raised by network executives, and acknowledged by The Nielsen Corporation, is the number of viewers who rely upon the internet for entertainment, especially among young viewers. The networks target audience is very tech savvy, and spend increasing amounts of time at the computer, and on wireless phones for music and video. The CW angered this audience, this year, when they pulled the streaming episodes of Gossip Girl. They had hoped to force people to watch the show on TV, where Nielsen boxes would produce the numbers that help pay the bills. Another problem with this audience for advertiser-funded media is the popularity of DVRs, which make it possible to miss the commercials entirely. The network has experimented heavily with new types of advertisements, including very short spots and serialized spots.
In its third season, The CW plans to experiment with new adverisement formats. They will also continue working closely with The Nielsen Corporation on new ways to measure who is watching shows. They also plan on creating new relationships between online content and on-air offerings, likely working on new ways to sell the strength of the internet offerings to advertisers.
Fans of shows such as Supernatural, Reaper, and even Gossip Girl will have to hope that the network will improve its numbers before either, or both, of its parent companies decides to pull the plug. In the end, we, as fans will really decide, through our actions, how well the network performs.
Tags: advertising, cancellations, CW, nielsen, problems, ratingsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: CW
6 opinions for CW Network on Life Support?
OZZIE CHICO
May 19, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I hate this network…..I only watch Supernatural because it was on the WB,….then when it became the CW , then they started ditching SPN. Hardly any promos. They almost cancled the show and always keep the series in mid-air on cancellation. They give Kripke and crew a tight money budget…yet Supernatural is the best series there hands down. They showed stupid silly reallity shows….like ”Farmer Want’s A Wife”, and ”Girlious” ….come on these shows sound like sometihng you find in Porn Tube??? Then they put all their eggs into the GG Basket. I’am not talking Gilmore Girls either….but the very rich, very white kids only Gossip Girl??? America now is concerned about the WAR, and elections on choosing our next president. America isn’t interested in rich spoiled white kids….when most americans are suffering gas prices,….and loosing their homes. The CW’s main problem is that the show needs a big wake up call.
OZZIE CHICO
May 19, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Sorry , what I meant is that the CW NETWORK needs a big Wake-up, Shake-up call. Stop showing shows with have naked dumb girls who will do anything for money. STOP. showing shows only geared for the young and the restless. Why? Because most of those folks are glued to MTV…junk. Promote the good that you are toooooo blind to see??? Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are talented and beautiful…YET the CW must only be into half naked girls? I remember once when the T.V. GUIDE expressed an interrest in the fact that the WB…was great at picking good looking guys. Tom Welling, Chad M. Murray, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Vito. What went wrong…they took away the B…and added a terrible C.
FeFe
May 19, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Ozzie,
I am with ya! The programming on the CW does not befit any civilized human being. I love Smallville (though it is on the doward spiral) and Supernatural. Those are different shows not like the stupid, intelligence busting reality shows…and I use the word “reality” loosely.
I actually watched GG for the first time and while mildly entertaining it all boiled down to pretty white teens with problems. Next season will usher in more of the same with the new 90210.
I was rooting for The CW, why I am not sure but they have totally disappointed me with their show selections. I just want SN to stay around until Kripke decides he’s done!
KayDee
May 21, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I don’t imagine The CW is going anywhere for another few years. The merger signed stipulated a 10-year run before either network calls it quits. While this might not go on 10 years, it’ll probably run at least 5, and Supernatural - the only show I also watched on The CW - will have concluded its run by then. And The CW has only had 2 years on the air. That isn’t long to establish itself and its programming. Though I think the network should develop shows that targets more than the 18-24 female demographic, ultimately I’ll be happy if we get the entirety of Kripke’s vision!
Corco66
May 23, 2008 at 3:22 pm
The CW should stop the bleeding by picking up a few “established” shows that got cancelled. How about CBS’s Moonlight and Shark? Moonlight has 7.5M fans ready to follow it anywhere and wouldn’t a Moonlight & Supernatural double-header be a knockout night of TV?? C’mon CW what have you got to lose? There are 2 vamps, a sexy leading lady and millions of LOYAL Moonlighters in the target demographic (which translates to lots of $$ for ads) looking for a home! Please?
Andrea
May 26, 2008 at 5:50 pm
The C W needs to really to focus on thier ratings and not all the crappy shows they keep putting on which is hurting thier rating! Come on C W I know you guys can do alot better quit slacking
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