While The CW’s roster of superheroes, vampires, zombies, etc. settles in for a relaxing summer vacation, the network’s collection of variety shows and foreign imports will have to do the heavy lifting. Its summer schedule kicks off Monday, May 29 with the season premiere of Whose Line Is it Anyway? at 9/8C.
After debuting in January to 1.4 million total viewers and a 0.5 demo rating, the Archie Comics-inspired drama thus far is averaging 1.2 million and a 0.5 — ranking behind Supernatural as The CW’s No. 2 non-superhero show. It also enjoys DVR playback bumps of 78% and 85% in the young-skewing adults 18-34 and women 18-34 demos. Riverdale is the eighth CW series to score an early pickup for the 2017-18 TV season.
Exclusives
Midwest Television’s CBS affiliate KFMB San Diego (DMA 28) is adding the The CW on a subchannel, beginning Sept. 1. “We are thrilled to be adding the CW to the KFMB family,” said Alberto Mier y Terán, the station’s president-GM. “It enhances our strong multimedia platform in San Diego and helps us to better serve all San Diegans with compelling programming and award-winning local news.”
The CW’s new drama Riverdale — based on the Archie Comics characters — offers the season’s most intriguing test as to whether IP can truly help launch a show, even if its intended audience will likely have very little knowledge of the source material.
It features moves for incumbents Supernatural and DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow and the addition of new Archie Comics drama Riverdale and returning series The 100, Reign, The Originals and iZombie.
The CW has ordered an additional four episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, bringing the current Season 2 order to a total of 17 episodes.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? will be back for a fifth season. The improv comedy series on Monday was renewed along with two other series.
Continuing to pursue TV-related ad deals, Twitter disclosed an “upfront” deal with The CW and Ford Motor Co. for its Twitter Amplify effort. Starting Oct. 4, The CW is creating social media videos — weekly recaps, highlights, via fan tweets and CW sneak peek content — for a number of its shows.
This week, as The CW begins to debut its season premieres, viewers used to streaming its shows on Hulu will be in for a surprise. The network’s five-year deal with the streaming service has lapsed, which means that for the first time, The CW’s website and apps will have exclusive in-season streaming rights to its shows like Supergirl, which has migrated over from CBS, Jane the Virgin and The Flash.
The honing of the CW’s focus has brightened the picture for the network as it marks its 10th birthday Sept. 20. The CW’s emphasis on properties drawn from the DC library, and such unconventional comedies as Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, has helped it compete in the multiplatform universe where brand-name titles thrive. But it was the dawn of the digital era that shored up the CW’s future as a business for parent companies CBS Corp. and Warner Bros.
The CW appears to be refining its OTT streaming strategy for this new fall TV season by making its in-season streaming offers exclusive to its own CW-branded digital platforms. The move essentially removes CW programming from Hulu.
Meredith Corp. is bringing its Allrecipes Dinner Spinner app to televisions across the nation. Titled Dinner Spinner, the weekly half-hour, cooking competition show will begin airing on the CW Network Oct. 1 at 11 a.m
After renewing nearly all its shows, the network basks in long-sought stability with a roster of superhero programs, such as The Flash, Arrow and a new arrival from sister network CBS.
The network veteran is promoted from SVP and will oversee all communications strategies and media relations.
After its upcoming eighth season, The Vampire Diaries shall be no more. The decision was announced Saturday during The CW drama’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con; as you can imagine, the thousands of fans in attendance were not pleased.
The CW and Netflix have confirmed a new multi-year content licensing relationship that allows Netflix to remain the exclusive U.S. subscription television service for previous seasons of scripted series. The new deal significantly shortens the window between a show’s broadcast finale and its debut on Netflix. Starting with the 2016-17 season, CW shows will be available for streaming eight days after each program’s season finale.
Netflix and the CW are close to finalizing a megabucks new deal covering scripted series that significantly speeds up the availability of the shows to less than two weeks after each season ends on the network.
Tribune Studios and Irwin Entertainment to produce the new first-run weekday syndicated conflict resolution talk strip.
The younger-skewing network today announced that it is sticking with its staggered fall premiere date rollout schedule in October, where it avoids competing with the Big 4’s crowded September push.
