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For a brief time in its history, the CW was the crown jewel of cable TV. While not the creme de la creme of television shows, the network was able to retain a large online fandom, regardless of what ratings were behind the shows that they put up. With popular shows likeVampire Diaries,Supernatural, and The Arrowverse, CW dominated prime-time shows catering to a teen audience, never missing the mark.
Until it did. What was once a celebrated part of the television fandom, fell from grace pretty fast. Multiple factors were responsible for this, from shifting perceptions of the viewers to a focus on stories and plots that were just too repetitive.
Fans are right in pointing out that the fall of the network must be studied, given that it is an interesting case shifting perceptions among audiences, and how a company needs to be able to predict the consequences of its decisions accurately.
The CW shifted its business model and the genre it was playing in
CW, during its initial glory days, had a very slick business model that allowed a lot of its audiences to spread the word about their shows among themselves. Fans would engage with the material that CW was putting out on social media, something that was permeating heavily into the public conscience. Further, CW was also making its way to comic cons, given that a lot of their shows were dealing with thesupernatural and, in its later years, with superheroes.
“They can’t fire me again”: Jared Padalecki Breaks All Ties With The CW After Brutally Honest Rant Against Studio That Deliberately Set Him Up to Fail
Initially, the production value of these shows was never an issue, given that no one really expected an expensive, well-made show on par with what audiences saw in films. However, as CW went full force intoDC’s superhero properties, it was unable to match up with the superhero boom that was being experienced by audiences on streaming giants and movie theatres, which affected how the fans looked at the shoestring budget that these shows had to work with.
CW’s acquisition by Nexstar changed a lot of things around
As Nexstar bought in a majority share at CW, there was an onslaught of cancelations that shocked audiences and fans. From legacy shows to some of its biggest IPs to others that fans were looking forward to, Nexstar media, as reported byVariety, was keen on canceling them all in favor of more unscripted shows and procedural dramas.
Enter The CW Cancelverse: Every ‘Deadweight’ Show That Was Shut Down
There had been a lot of discontent before the acquisition as well, as the business of CW shifted towards catering to streaming services to make a quick buck. This course of action fell apart when the parent companies of CW, CBS, and Warner Bros., created streaming services of their own, essentially destroying a source of revenue for them.
This essentially paints the picture of a once glorious network that had a pretty steady business model but failed to properly adapt to the times. While its expansion into streaming services was the right move, the channel needed to figure out that it was not made for the superhero landscape, especially with the MCU dominating the space through streaming and theatrical releases. Further, as Nexstar focuses on an older audience as opposed to teens, shows likeGossip Girl,Arrow, andVampire Diariesjust don’t seem like profitable IPs anymore.
Anuraag Chatterjee
Content Writer
Articles Published :1633
Anuraag Chatterjee, Web Content WriterWith a passion for writing fiction and non fiction content, Anuraag is a Media Science graduate with 2 year’s experience with Marketing and Content, with 3 published poetry anthologies. Anuraag holds a Bacherlor’s degree in Arts with a focus on Communication and Media Studies.
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