The CW just can’t seem to escape being the butt of jokes after it was revealed that the average viewer of the network is 58 years old, in spite of many of their shows being geared toward 18-to-34-year-olds.
With DC shows like Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl — collectively known as the Arrowverse, among other shows — you would think The CW’s demographic skewed to younger viewers. But that apparently is not the case.
Nexstar Media Group recently acquired The CW and as such, they announced during a conference call on Monday that their strategy going forward will be making content aimed at older viewers, TVLine reported. Nexstar president and chief operating officer Tom Carter laid out the strategy, saying,
“As many of you are aware, The CW is currently the lowest-rated broadcast network, which we believe largely reflects the fact that its programming is targeted for an 18-to-34 audience demographic, while the average age of the CW broadcast viewer is 58 years. Over time, we’ll be taking a different approach to our CW programming strategy.”
It wasn’t long before people on Twitter began to hilariously imagine the very colorful and cartoon-ish programming the average CW viewer is subjected to.
Another user asked point blank, “why are 58-year-olds watching The CW[?]”
Another DC fanatic questioned where this news leaves the forthcoming Gotham Knights TV show, which was previously scheduled to release later this year on The CW in December.
Another Twitter user was utterly confused at the 58-year-old statistic, citing shows like Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, and Gilmore Girls — among others — as evidence The CW “has clearly been targeting girls and women ages 14-35.”
Another Twitter user was taken aback, saying they were convinced The CW was a “teen drama channel.”
With the recent shakeup of DC content under the new leadership of Warner Bros. Discovery — which resulted in a last-minute cancelation of the HBO Max original movie Batgirl — the future of the comic book franchise in the world of TV seems up in the air at the moment. This latest strategy change by The CW represents, perhaps, the most recent wrinkle in that saga.