WarnerMedia and Viacom/CBS are considering selling their jointly-ownedCW Network, which airs beloved shows likeThe Flash,Riverdale, andBatwoman. Nexstar Media is a possible buyer of the teen and young adult-focused network.
While so far no representative from Nexstar Media has commented on the rumors that they will buyThe CW, this acquisition would fit its portfolio and match its recent strategy of taking up broadcast channels that are being sold off for pennies as their previous owners move to streaming. Nexstar Media was also the original jointpartner with Warner Bros.on the WB Network, the CW’s predecessor. At this time, WarnerMedia, Viacom/CBS, and Nexstar have not clarified if the sale will give total ownership to Nexstar, or if Warner and Viacom/CBS will maintain minor stakes.
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Staff at the CW were notified about the possible sale, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, in a company-wide memo sent by CEO Mark Pedowitz, the chief of the network since 2011. The memo stated, “over the past year or so, this transformative time in our industry has led to a series of business activity across media and content companies. Given that environment right now, ViacomCBS and Warner Bros. are exploring strategic opportunities to optimize the value of their joint venture in The CW Network.” While CW shows likeThe Vampire Diaries,RiverdaleandSupernaturalwere able to gain cult status among viewers, the CW Network actually has never been profitable since its creation in 2006 via a merger between the WB network and the CBS-owned UPN. In its 16-year run, the network’s most significant gains in revenue and viewership came after WarnerMediabegan selling CW shows to Netflix. The deal with Netflix ended in 2019, when WarnerMedia and Viacom/CBS began pushing CW shows onto their own streaming apps, HBO Max and Paramount Plus, respectively.
The lack of profitability is certainly why WarnerMedia and Viacom/CBS are trying to get out of the deal. The original deal between Warner Bros. and CBS was that the companies would go 50-50 on producing new shows. While Warner Bros. was able to supply a range of adaptations of its DC superheroes franchises, helmed by Greg Berlanti, CBS was not able to produce the same amount of content, nor match Warner Bros. in viewership. The CBS-produced CW dramaDynastyis actually the lowest-rated original series currently airing on TV. The slow output from CBS de-facto made Warner the primary supplier of content, while still only holding a 50% stake.
Then, bothWarnerMedia and CBSwere themselves bought up in mergers with larger companies that have a vested interest in making sure their acquisitions are profitable. Telecommunications supergiant AT&T bought WarnerMedia in 2016, and Viacom merged with CBS in 2019. Since these changes in ownership, both Warner and CBS have been aggressively pursuing streaming strategies, choosing to create their own streaming sites to compete with Netflix. Building an in-house streaming platform allows a company like CBS or WarnerMedia to cut out the Netflix middleman. Instead of selling the rights to their content to another streamer, they save the hassle and expense of setting up that kind of corporate deal by just making a streaming library of content they already own.
Of course, it cannot be ignored that the target audience for CW was teens and adults up to age 34. AKA, the people who don’t watch broadcast TV anymore.That CW shows struggle for ratingsand viewership on the network but gain record numbers on streaming platforms should have been the canary in the coal mine for CW leadership. No matter how good your content is, it will never do well if the audience is not on your platform. And the kids are not watching CW shows onthe CW.
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