Last week was a big week for The CW, with the return of multiple hit shows including Supergirl, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Riverdale, Arrow and Supernatural. B&C worked with Inscape.tv, the TV data company with glass-level information from 7 million smart TV screens and devices, to see how people have been consuming the latest installments of their favorite shows from the network.
Many of the premieres saw slight upticks in viewership as they progressed, and for the most part people who were watching one show on The CW stuck around to watch additional programming after episodes ended. Below, a more detailed breakdown of viewership around each premiere.
SupergirlSeason 3 Premiere - Monday, Oct. 9
Viewership was mostly steady with a slight uptick towards the end of the episode. The dips in the graph represent people switching to different channels during commercial breaks (standard behavior, of course, while watching TV). Some people who watched the premiere of Supergirl were tuning back and forth between it and the Monday night NFL game. As Supergirl concluded, a subset of viewers stayed with The CW to check out the premiere of its new show Valor.
The FlashSeason 4 premiere - Tuesday, Oct. 10
Viewership steadily went up as the season 4 premiere of The Flash progressed. For the most part, people who watched the episode stuck with The CW throughout the evening, watching reruns of Two and a Half Men on the channel beforehand, and then sticking around to catch DC’s Legends of Tomorrow after.
DC’s Legends of TomorrowSeason 3 Premiere - Tuesday, Oct. 10
There seemed to be slightly less enthusiasm for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, with viewership slightly declining throughout the premiere. A large portion of viewers had previously been watching the premiere of The Flash on The CW.
RiverdaleSeason 2 Premiere - Wednesday, Oct. 11
Viewership crept up during the Riverdale premiere, with a small set of people switching back and forth between it and MLB baseball on Fox Sports 1. And once again, we see that people were mostly sticking with shows on The CW throughout the evening — reruns of The Big Bang Theory beforehand and Dynasty after.
SupernaturalSeason 13 Premiere - Thursday, Oct. 12
Viewership mostly stayed steady during the Supernatural premiere, with a tiny uptick at the very end of the episode. Some people were switching between it and Grey’s Anatomy on ABC, while others were checking out the NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Carolina Panthers.
ArrowSeason 6 Premiere - Thursday, Oct. 12
For the most part viewership of the Arrow premiere held steady, with a slight increase by the end. And just like with other shows on The CW, those who watched one were likely to stick around and consume more on the channel, as seen in the graph below, which shows Supernatural viewers sticking around to watch Arrow. But, given that it was a Thursday night, some people were clicking back and forth between The CW and the NFL game on CBS/NFL Network.
