CW kept their upfront presentation to an hour. They surprised the audience with two pre-show performances by Naturally7 and Monsters and Men. A nice treat coming off of a jam packed upfront week.
This has been the best season for CW. In fact, it’s the third season in a row to see audience growth due to the success of returning hits like Arrow, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals and Reign. CW is also bringing more audiences back to broadcast thanks to The Flash, which happens to be the most watched series ever on CW and highest rated series on the network among men 18-34.
Mark Pedowitz, president of CW, focused on four key strategies:
- Continue momentum to broaden audiences
- Attract more men 18-34
- Expand digital offer with CW Seed original digital series
- Invest in more original programming
From a programming perspective, CW will add one new show to the fall schedule, Crazy Ex-girlfriend and two mid-season programs; Containment and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow. The schedule will see minimal disruption this year, if it isn’t broke why fix it.
I would describe CW’s upfront as a continuation of their 2013/2014 vision, which is to build on an already proven stable of properties, leverage its audience’s natural engagement with social media and continue to grow as a strategic reach builder and top content provider for viewers 18-34.
Overall, CW is on a winning streak, they received three Critics’ Choice Awards and additional accolades for their highly revered productions. They are also seeing audience growth across all platforms, specifically with a very discerning male audience 18-34, which is no small achievement in today’s multi-choice media universe. Well done CW!
Robert DaSilva is managing director, client leadership and trading at Mindshare
