WSJ: CW could go under soon
By Tim Surette - TV.com
May 16, 2008 at 02:43:00 PM | more stories by this author
Business paper says Gossip Girl mothership could go dark if ratings dips continue.
The CW may come across just as spunky and full of life as any one of the stars of Gossip Girl, but things may be a bit different when peeking behind the curtain.
The network came to being when the UPN and WB joined forces a few years ago, and, according to The Wall Street Journal, the sum of the two parts may still not be enough to keep the CW afloat. The paper points out that more than a quarter of its targeted demographic--18- to 34-year-olds--have abandoned the network this season, and that 2008 so far has been the worst that the CW, UPN, or WB has ever seen in terms of average weekly viewers at roughly two and a half million.
Targeting the highly sought-after youth demo can be both a blessing and a curse. Advertisers will line up in droves to sell to 18- to 34-year-olds, but that same age group isn't always watching television shows on an actual television.
Many more people are watching Gossip Girl than Nielsen ratings indicate; the show is getting downloaded (both legally and illegally) and is watched online via CW's streaming video. The CW tried to combat this by trying a new tactic--it withheld video streams of poststrike Gossip Girl episodes, and the result seemed to defy logic--ratings didn't change much at all.
One would expect that if the CW wanted to survive, it would try to expand its viewer demographics. But as its new schedule indicates, it is actually narrowing its target audience. By dropping wrestling programs and adding the new 90210 and How to Survive the Filthy Rich, it's clear that the focus is almost exclusively on young women.
The Wall Street Journal cites one inside source who says if the CW doesn't turn around its slide soon, "at least one of the network's owners is likely to abandon the venture."
Can the CW be saved? Should it branch out into more diverse programming? Is the Internet killing the television business? Sound off below!
